That was Then, This is Now
by coffeebuddha
Summary: Usagi Black is one of the most feared aurors in the fight against Voldermort, but anyone who knew her before the Potters died and her husband was arrested will tell you that she wasn't always so cold and distant. *Chapter Sixteen is up*
1. Chapter One

That was Then, This is Now  
  
Summary: Usagi Black is one of the most feared aurors in the fight against Voldermort, but anyone who knew her before the Potters died and her husband was arrested will tell you that she wasn't always so cold and distant. Angered by the ministry's long time refusal to believe in Voldermort's return, Usagi quits her job and accepts Dumbledore's offer to teach DADA. Throw in a concerned Snape, a confused Harry, and a mysterious Hotaru, stir well, and bake for twenty minutes.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or Harry Potter and I don't have the energy at the moment to write an amusing disclaimer.  
  
Kristin:This is just an idea that I have been bouncing around in my mind for a while. I'm not sure that I will finish it though. The LotR story that I posted only got two reviews for the first chapter. If I get as little feedback on this as I did on that then I definitely won't finish it. I'm not even sure that I will post anymore on my LotR story. But that's a whole other thing that I don't really want to go into. Usagi is OOC and the SM world is a bit AU. They had the same past lives but they were not the sailor scouts in their present lives.  
  
***  
  
Chapter One  
  
Usagi was running down a dimly lit hallway. At the end of the hallway, with his back to her, was Sirius. He turned around as she ran and smiled widely. Seeing this, Usagi began running faster but she still didn't get any closer. Sirius held his arms out as if to catch her. He seemed to be drifting even farther away. Usagi reached a hand out toward Sirius as he turned away again and began to fade. "Sirius! Come back! Sirius! NO!!"  
  
Twenty-year-old Usagi Black bolted up in her bed. Her breathing was irregular, and she reached over to her husband's side of the bed, only to find it empty. Her eyes snapped open before she remembered what had happened. A baby's cry cut through her thoughts. Usagi climbed out of bed and hurried toward her daughter's room. She walked over to the crib and picked up her one-year-old daughter. Usagi sat down in a rocking chair and tried to soothe the crying child.  
  
"Shh. You miss your daddy, don't you?" She rocked the small girl back and forth until she drifted off to sleep. Usagi skimmed her fingers over the fine black hair on the child's head. It was just like her father's, except for dark purple highlights, and her eyes seemed to be a mixture of both her parents. Black and dark blue, swirled together to form violet. Usagi smiled sadly. "Don't worry. Daddy will be home soon. I will make sure of that." She placed the baby back in the crib and sat back down on the rocking chair. She leaned her head against the nursery window and drifted off to sleep with one hand resting on her swollen stomach.  
  
***16 YEARS LATER***  
  
Harry sat laughing with Ron and Hermione. They had arrived at Hogwarts that day and the first years had just finished being sorted. "Our last year with Snape. That sounds great, don't you think?" Ron grinned.  
  
"It sounds better than anything else in the world. I can hardly wait until we get to get away from him."  
  
Harry glanced at the teacher's table. There was still no sign of a new teacher and Snape was looking less annoyed than usual. Harry was just beginning to get the sinking feeling that Snape had finally gotten the DADA position when one of the doors to the Great Hall was opened. Harry nudged Ron, who alerted Hermione, and watched as a woman walked through the door. Harry heard Ron choke on his food and could fully appreciate his friend's reaction.  
  
The woman was absolutely gorgeous. The tip of a thick silver braid gently brushed the floor, and dark blue eyes with flecks of silver scanned the room. Her short, slender frame was almost completely consumed by her black robes. A small frown was plastered on full, blood red lips. She quickly made her way to the teacher's table and took a seat beside Snape. Snape smiled at the new teacher and said something that appeared to be warm and courteous. Ron choked again; this time accompanied by most of the Great Hall, and some of the teachers. The new teacher didn't seem surprised; instead, the corners of her mouth twisted up into the smallest of smiles. She spoke quietly with Snape for a few moments before standing and leaving. Snape quickly finished what he was eating and then left as well. Harry turned back toward his own table. Hermione buried her face in her book again and said only one thing for the rest of the feast. "Well, that was strange."  
  
Usagi leaned against wall as she waited for Severus to join her. The door next to her opened and Severus smiled at the smaller woman. "It's been too long, Usa." Usagi smiled slightly at the nick-name before throwing herself into Severus' waiting arms. Her head didn't even reach his shoulder as she buried her face in his robes. Severus pulled back after a moment and led Usagi down into the dungeons, into the potions room. Severus walked over to his desk, leaving Usagi in the doorway. She turned in a full circle, and her eyes landed on the spot where she had always worked. She closed her eyes for a moment and when she open them again she saw a younger version of herself and Severus. The younger her was slumped forward on the table top, with her face burrowed into her arms, crying. 'It's hopeless, Sev. Sirius is never going to figure it out. I'm such an idiot.' The younger Severus wrapped an arm around her shoulders in a half hug.  
  
'If he doesn't figure it out then he is a bigger idiot than I thought he was. Honestly Usa, why wouldn't he want you,' Severus lifted her chin with his finger, 'You're sweet, funny, and I guess that you're pretty enough,' he studied her face for a moment, 'Okay, well not right now. I mean, your eyes are all puffy and your nose is pretty red. I could see if he didn't want you when you were crying.' Usagi's jaw dropped in disbelief before she slapped Severus' arm. He laughed it off and pulled her into a tight hug.  
  
'Sev?'  
  
'Yeah?'  
  
'Thanks.'  
  
"Usa? You still in there?" Usagi's head snapped toward Severus and she numbly nodded as she brought herself out of her memories. "So, Usagi, why haven't you contacted me in the last four years?" Usagi pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear.  
  
"Let's see Severus. Four years ago you tried to turn Sirius back over to Ministry, when you knew that he was innocent, just for fame. I would say that that's sufficient reason for me not wanting to talk to you."  
  
"You still love him."  
  
"Love him? Yes, I do. I love him, more than anything else in the world. I never have and never will stop loving him."  
  
Severus sighed heavily. "Usa, Sirius is a murderer."  
  
"No he isn't and you know it! You just hate him. You hated me being with him, because we were actually happy! You couldn't stand that I was happy when you weren't," Usagi curled her fingers into fists and pressed them against her forehead, "I'm sorry that you decided to break it off with Minako. I really am, but you can't keep trying to bring me down just because you want company in your misery. I won't let you. I just won't!" Usagi turned and ran from the room. Severus sank down onto a chair.  
  
"What have I done?"  
  
***  
  
Kristin: So? What did you all think? Was it any good? Should I continue? Let me know please. 


	2. Chapter Two

That was Then, This is Now  
  
Disclaimer: *Kristin sits rocking in a corner, softly muttering. Bob, her muse, steps forward with a lawyer a step behind him.* Kristin, in no way shape or form, owns Harry Potter or Sailor Moon. Unfortunately she has convinced herself that she does, so we will all have to be a little more careful around her from now on.  
  
Kristin: My goodness. I didn't think that so many people would like it. *wipes away a tear* I'm touched. However, there is a little thing about Usagi and Severus that I want to clear up. Severus is NOT in love with Usagi. The two are just extremely close; you will find out why later on. Want to see if any of you can guess why? Severus will be with Minako. I think that her sunny disposition goes great with his dark one, don't you? Okay, just wanted to clear that up.  
  
***  
  
Chapter Two  
  
Harry paused outside of the DADA classroom door. It was his last class of the day and he had no idea what to expect. Ginny had had the class earlier that day, but she had refused to say anything about it to the rest of them. He thought back to breakfast that morning. All of the prior friendliness between the potions professor and the DADA professor had disappeared. Snape had appeared to be trying, but the new professor had sat as far away from him as possible, and had glared over time he tried to get her attention. It hadn't had a very good effect on the irritable potions professor. He had been almost unbearable during class and had even taken points from the Slytherins. Harry braced himself for the worst and walked into the room.  
  
He grabbed a seat beside Hermione, who was exchanging a goofy look with Ron. The two had finally gotten together during their sixth year, and could be extremely disgusting to be around. He sighed heavily before turning his attention toward the professor. She was sitting behind her desk, glancing at a few opened books and hastily writing on a piece of parchment. Harry's eyes narrowed. Now that he could see her more clearly, she looked very familiar. In fact, Harry was sure that he had seen her somewhere before. The face was certainly familiar, although, he had never seen eyes filled with such a silent rage before.  
  
Usagi looked up from her writing to find her room filled with students. She carefully placed her things into a drawer, stood and circled around her desk, to the front. She looked over the students with an appraising eye as she leaned against the front of her desk. Her gaze locked with Harry's and for a moment, in his place she saw a slightly different face with dark brown eyes and a mischievous smile. She blinked and it was gone.  
  
"Hello class," her voice was quiet and slightly hoarse, and she coughed lightly to clear her throat, "I am Professor Black. I do not play favorites. In fact, I do not play at all. This is a very serious class and I expect all of you to treat it as such. Any of you that have a problem with that should leave now. However, you will have to explain to Dumbledore why you were not allowed back in the classroom. Outside of this school, things are getting dangerous and most of you don't seem to realize that. One distraction in this class could cause somebody to miss something important. If you miss something important then you could die. Before now, you have been taught how to deal with creatures in the wizarding world. This year will be the same, although, the creature that I will teach you how to destroy will be much wiser than anything you have faced before. I will be teaching you how to destroy man," Usagi glanced at a paper on her desk, "They put Slytherins and Gryffindors together? What kind of moron would do that," she sighed heavily before continuing, "I want all Slytherins on one side of the room and all Gryffindors on the other. I want to see how well you can duel in groups. How about we make this a bit more interesting. The Slytherins will be representing deatheaters and the Gryffindors will be representing aurors. The side that wins will be given five points for each member still standing."  
  
"Isn't that a bit prejudice Professor?" Usagi advanced toward Draco.  
  
"You're Malfoy's boy, aren't you?" Draco nodded proudly. "I pity you for that. Your mother is very sweet, but your father is a complete socially- challenged git," Usagi paused as the Gryffindor half of the room laughed, "Very well. The Slytherins will represent aurors and the Gryffindors will represent deatheaters. I was going to make you trade sides next time that we do this, so I suppose it doesn't matter. Now, when I say begin, I want all of you to attack each other. But, keep in mind that if you do anything life threatening, I have permission to expel you," Usagi stepped back behind her desk, "Begin."  
  
Late that night, Usagi sat on a chair in her room staring at the fire that the house elves had built. She had just finished reading The Daily Prophet. They claimed that the ministry was closer than ever to capturing Sirius and destroying Voldemort. She was happy that she had quit. When Sirius had first been arrested, her cries of his innocence had been lost in a sea of screams for conviction. For nearly six years after his arrest, she had continued to demand justice, and there was no longer anyone else to muffle her. Then, the unthinkable had happened. She had received a letter from the ministry saying that Sirius had died. She didn't eat for weeks and rarely left the house. She had to send her children to stay with one of her friends until she recovered enough to continue taking care of them. Finding out that the ministry had lied to her had been like a slap in the face. Usagi had wanted to quit then, and still had when she had received a job offer from Dumbledore.  
  
Usagi slumped back on the couch. Her hand curled around the newspaper. She lifted it so that it was level to her eyes. With a curse to the ministry Usagi threw the paper into the fire and watched in satisfaction as it burned.  
  
At that same time Harry was sitting in the middle of his bed, flipping through the pages of the album that Hagrid had given him at the end of his first year. He did it every time that he had something on his mind; it soothed him to see the smiling faces of his parents, and he could almost imagine that they were there to give him advice. Right now he was wondering about where he had seen Professor Black before. His hand paused its methodical turning when he reached his parent's wedding picture, and his eyes widened. This was it. This was what he had been looking for! There in the picture, by his mother's side in the position of Maid of Honor was a younger, smiling Usagi Black.  
  
***  
  
Kristin: So, was that any good? Anybody disappointed? Anybody overjoyed? Please, let me know what you think.  
  
Special Thanks to:  
  
Kiwi: My first reviewer. I plan on keeping it up.  
  
Booyaka: When you say new, do you mean new idea or new story?  
  
Alexz: Is this soon enough?  
  
Koneko: I'm glad that you like it.  
  
Za Kaze no Nisou: Nope, no triangle. Um, and yes Sirius did escape. Thanks for putting my story on your favorites. For that you get a piece of my super duper duct tape!  
  
First Sol, Lighting Star: I'm continuing it now.  
  
Sergon: Glad that you like it.  
  
Akiko SkywalkerGreenleafPotter: I know what you mean. I wrote it and I feel sorry for him. Don't worry though. He'll be okay. Aw, you didn't just say that you liked it, you said that you loved it!  
  
Moon: I hurried.  
  
Princess of the Fae: Usagi/Sirius is one of my favorite pairings. I hate that there aren't more out there.  
  
Kolinshar Jackie-chan Benito: .um.please don't thonk me? I hope that I updated fast enough for you. Be glad. I never update this quick.  
  
Silver Moon Goddess: Glad that somebody picked up on the second child thing. Well, sorry but I'm not telling. All I'm going to say is that it isn't Chibiusa, cause I just hate her. But it is somebody from Sailor Moon and she is very cute.  
  
Sailorruss: Odd in a good way, right? Right? *gets panicked look on face* RIGHT?!  
  
Hilary: Hope that I didn't make you wait too long. 


	3. Chapter Three

That was Then, This is Now  
  
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and Sailor Moon do not belong to me. If they belonged to me then nobody would like them.  
  
Kristin: Hi! I'm back again. You know what I just realized? If I wanted to then I could finish this story in about five chapters. It wouldn't be any good, but I could do it. Again, I didn't expect so many people to like this. I was expecting people to tell me to stop my pointless massacre of the characters. Okay, so maybe my friends are right. Perhaps I am a bit over critical, but if you are over critical to begin with then it is harder to get insulted when people don't like it. The same goes for life. I'm only fourteen and already I have learned that if you don't expect anything then you can't get disappointed or hurt. That's why I don't get hurt when boys only see me as 'one of the guys' and when the so called popular crowd treats me like crap. I'm kind of babbling aren't I? Sorry, I've done way too much thinking today. Oh, by the way, I made up everything about the memory stone. I have no idea if anything like that is supposed to exist or not.  
  
***  
  
Chapter Three  
  
Harry stared, mesmerized at the picture. Looking closely he could see some differences. Her hair was a golden blond, and her eyes a lighter shade of blue, but the face and the stance were the same. His eyes flickered across the picture and suddenly caught sight of Sirius. Black. They had the same last name and it seemed obvious that they knew each other. Were they related? There didn't seem to be any physical similarities, but that didn't mean that they weren't related. They could be distant cousins or something to that extent. Harry spent the rest of the night trying to come up with ways for his new professor and his godfather to be related.  
  
*  
  
The next morning Harry raced down to breakfast, his album tucked under his arm. He found Ron and Hermione eating their breakfasts and slammed the book down in front of them, the page open to the wedding portrait. "Look." He pointed at Professor Black, who simultaneously eating and glaring at Snape, and then at the picture. Ron barely glanced at each before continuing to eat, but Hermione studied the professor and then the picture. Shock appeared on her face as she realized what she was seeing, and her head snapped back toward the teacher's table and then to the photo repeatedly.  
  
"Wow. Professor Black must have been really good friends with your mom." Harry sat down across from Hermione and leaned across the table.  
  
"It isn't just that. She has the same last name as Sirius. Maybe they're related." Hermione studied the picture again before giving Harry a doubtful look.  
  
"Harry, look at her right ring finger. Notice anything?" Harry turned the album around so that he could see the picture. His eyes widened considerably.  
  
"An engagement ring? But, that would mean..."  
  
"That she was married to Sirius. Honestly, Harry, didn't you notice the wedding ring on her finger yesterday?" Harry looked up at Professor Black again, and this time noticed the small glare that her ring cast.  
  
"Um, no. I was a little too worried about getting hexed by a Slytherin." At this point Ron entered the conversation just long enough to make a boastful comment about their defeating the Slytherins the day before. The conversation quickly turned to the demise of the Slytherins.  
  
*  
  
During potions that day, Snape was worst than they had ever seen him. "I bet that he's just angry because he likes Professor Black and she's already married," Harry murmured to Ron as they worked on their potion.  
  
"What was that Potter?" Harry looked up to see Snape glaring down at him. Suddenly all the years of torture from the potions professor gave him courage to no longer care about what the professor could, and most definitely would, do to him.  
  
"I said that your just angry because Professor Black rejected you and married somebody else. You don't like that she's married to somebody who isn't you." By this time the entire class was watching. Anger clouded Snape's dark eyes before they acquired a look of coolness.  
  
"I won't pretend that I was thrilled when Professor Black told me that she was getting married, but I will also not pretend that I ever have or ever will possess any romantic interest toward her. She was a close friend and had just graduated. I felt that she was too young and inexperienced to make such a large decision. I felt the same way when your mother agreed to marry Potter. She was barely seventeen when they got engaged. Far too young, even if they were 'in love'." Snape ignored the stunned looks from his class as he walked over to his desk and began to sort through a few papers. After a moment he looked back up at Harry. "By the way, Mr. Potter, that will be twenty points from Gryffindor."  
  
"Okay, so maybe he doesn't like her that way," Harry whispered to Ron as he stirred the potion. Ron rolled his eyes.  
  
"Ya think?"  
  
*  
  
DADA went much better that day then it had the day before. Usagi went over several ways to improve upon the hexes she had seen them use the day before. She was about to begin telling them about curses when Hermione's hand shot up in the air. Again. She sighed heavily; this had to be the fifth time in the last half hour. "What bit of wisdom do you feel the need to bestow upon us now, Miss. Granger?"  
  
"I was just wondering about your necklace, Professor. The gem, it's a memory stone, isn't it?" Usagi allowed her shock to show on her face.  
  
"Yes, Miss. Granger, it is. I'm impressed that you recognized it. Ten points for Gryffindor. Knowledge about memory stones could be useful to you in the future. Since Miss. Granger knew enough to recognize the stone I will assume that she know what it does. However, I would be very impressed if anyone else in classroom knows. Would anyone wish to take a guess? It could be worth points."  
  
"Does it improve your memory?" Usagi frowned at Draco Malfoy.  
  
"No. Anyone else? Anybody at all," Usagi's eyes widened when Neville Longbottom hesitantly raised his hand, "Yes, Mr. Longbottom?"  
  
"A memory stone works in the same way as a muggle video camera. Depending on the spell you place on it, it can record, play, or delete images that are stored in it. However, it is much better then a video camera because not many people still know about them and that makes it easier to tape people without them knowing. Unfortunately, they are very rare, because they have to be made by a witch or wizard and not everybody possesses the gift to create them." Usagi's lips twisted into a rare smile as she looked at the nervous boy in front of her.  
  
"Very good, Mr. Longbottom. Twenty points for Gryffindor and another two if you tell us how you know so much about an thing that most have forgotten." Neville blushed at the complement.  
  
"My grandmother has one. It's been in our family for generations. If I may ask, where did you get yours, Professor?" The small smile on Usagi's face widened, barely noticeably.  
  
"My friend Rae made it for me. She is the first known person in a hundred years with the gift. Now, back to the curses."  
  
*  
  
Class ended without any more interruptions and as the rest of the students filed out of the classroom, Harry stayed behind. Professor Black was sitting behind her desk, busily writing what looked to be a lesson plan when Harry approached her. "Professor?" She looked up and Harry felt a chill go down his back. He had never been this close to the professor before and he only now noticed how cold her eyes were. They were like two dark blue orbs of ice, the silver flicks, like splinters of light shining out in spite of it all.  
  
"Can I help you Mr. Potter?" Harry took the album out of his bag, opened it to the wedding portrait, and handed it to Black. A look of understanding replaced her normally blank expression.  
  
"I figured that it would take you longer to find this." She handed it back to Harry and settled back into her chair. "So, what do you want to know?"  
  
"You're married to Sirius, aren't you?" Harry watched as Usagi sighed heavily, and then leaned forward on her desk.  
  
"Before I answer that I have a question for you. You know how everyone says that Sirius is the one who betrayed your parents and killed Peter and those muggles, right," she paused while he nodded, "What do you think about that?"  
  
"I think, no I know that it is a bunch of lies. Sirius didn't do it, Peter did." Usagi smiled.  
  
"Come with me." Harry followed as Usagi led the way to her office. "Take a seat, Mr. Potter. Yes, I am married to Sirius," she picked up a large silver orb off of her desk and tossed it from hand to hand as she paced, "And, I'm glad that you have enough common sense to know that Peter was guilty. I only have one question. How do you know?" She turned and watched Harry expectantly. He squirmed under her intense gaze.  
  
"He told me. That, and I saw Peter alive." One hand rested on top of the ball and the other supported it from underneath. Her fingers tightened around the ball until they were white.  
  
"You, you saw him? You saw Sirius? Have you seen or heard from him since? Where is he? You have to tell me!" Usagi's voice didn't get any louder but the pitched continued to raise until it was nothing more than a squeak. Harry watched her suspiciously.  
  
"What would you say to him if you saw him? Or would you even say anything? How do I know that you wouldn't just turn him in?" Harry watched as his teacher's fingers slowly regained their color as she released her grip on the ball and allowed it to fall to the ground. She ignored it as it shattered, and took a step closer to Harry.  
  
"Let me tell you something Mr. Potter," she said with emphasis on the Mr. Potter, "I tried for six years to get Sirius out of that bloody hell hole they stuck him in. The only reason that I stopped was because they told me that he was dead. Dead! They sent a death certificate and everything. I bet that you didn't know that Sirius and I have two daughters. One is your age and the other is a year younger. Sirius never even saw the younger one and yet every time I see her it feels like my heart is being ripped out. She has never met her father, but her personality is just like his," Harry felt his jaw drop in shock as a tear slipped down Usagi's cheek, "I love my husband, and never for one moment did I believe that he was guilty. I just want to see him, or at the very least write to him. I've loved Sirius sense I was thirteen. We have been married for eighteen years and I haven't had any contact with him for sixteen. Please, I just want to talk to him." Harry stood and walked toward the door.  
  
"I'll see what I can do. I'm not making any promises, but I'll try." He stepped out the door.  
  
"Thank you," she whispered at the closed door.  
  
*  
  
The next morning Usagi threw open the door to the Great Hall and ran across the room toward Dumbledore as quickly as she could. She leapt up the stairs that lead toward the table and skidded to a stop right before she collided into the table. She slammed a piece parchment down in front of the unflinching headmaster and pointed to the first line of the letter as she tried to get her breathing under control. "The school in Japan. Attacked. Very few survivors. No place to go. Complete massacre." Severus rushed to bring Usagi a chair to sit in while she regained her breath and helped her sit down. As Dumbledore read the letter his face seemed to become older. Usagi looked up at Dumbledore, and clutched at Severus' hand for support, the enormity of the crisis overriding her anger at him. "What are we going to do?"  
  
***  
  
Kristin: *wipes away a tear* I was crying the entire time that I wrote Usa's little speech. I'm probably the only one who was really touched by it since I'm the only one who really knows how she is saying it. Oh well. I tried. That's the best you can ask for, right? Oh, and in the next chapter you will find out who Usagi's other daughter is and why Severus and Usagi are so close. Ok, it was kind of annoying when I had nothing to write in response to a review except for 'thanks, glad you liked it' so I'm only going to write actual responses if I feel that it needs one from now on.  
  
Special Thanks To:  
  
Solarmistress17  
  
Little One  
  
Silver Moon Goddess: Try thinking Sailor Moon Stars and short, okay? Good guess though, and I did consider it, but Rae can be so insulting to Usagi that it would be terrible to make her Usagi's daughter.  
  
Seregon  
  
Za Kaze no Nisou: Super duper duct tape is the highest honor that you can get from me. I carry a roll around in school and if I'm happy with somebody then I will stick some on them. It's kind of like my own personal trademark. Just be happy about it.  
  
Booyaka: Oh, I'm glad that the idea is new. As for the chapters, I'm not trying to be mean or anything, but just be glad that I'm not one of those people who write two hundred word chapters. However, I am trying to make them longer. This one is about two times longer then my normal chapters.  
  
Sailorruss  
  
Koneko  
  
Alexz  
  
Selenitey  
  
Em: You are correct that the first child is Hotaru, but like I said in the AN, you will find out who the second child is next chapter. I wouldn't want to ruin it for you. 


	4. Chapter Four

That was Then, This is Now  
  
Disclaimer: This is the disclaimer that never ends. It just goes on and on my friends. An author started righting not knowing what it was and she'll continue righting it forever to say that Harry Potter and Sailor Moon do not belong to her just because...This is the disclaimer that never ends. It just goes on and on my friends...*is gagged and gets dragged away by the nice men in the white coats to play in the nice padded room*  
  
Kristin: I still can't believe how many people like this. I changed my mind about telling why Usagi and Severus are so close in this chapter. That will be next chapter. I will show who Usagi's other daughter is though.  
  
***  
  
Chapter Four  
  
Usagi paced back and forth in Dumbledore's office as she waited for everyone to arrive. T0he students whose parents allowed them to continue with their schooling had been invited to attend Hogwarts, although, the only students who actually were allowed were Usagi's daughters, and the two remaining teachers had been invited to assist the Hogwarts professors in their own specialized fields. They were going to travel by portkey. Usagi suddenly stopped her pacing and screamed, "Where are they?!" Severus stood up and dropped a comforting arm around Usagi's shoulders.  
  
"Usa, they aren't even scheduled to arrive for another three minutes." Usagi sighed, but allowed herself to be lead toward a chair and sat down. The seconds slowly ticked away, as did Usagi's patience. Finally the time came for the group to arrive, and Severus slipped out of the room unnoticed. Usagi leapt from her seat as the four ungracefully fell to the ground. She ignored the two teachers as she ran over to her daughters and threw her arms around them both.  
  
"Thank Merlin," she whispered as she pressed a kiss onto both of their foreheads. The older, and shorter, girl pulled away from her mother first, and leaned down to help the fallen professors up. Her dark hair momentarily hid her violet eyes. Hotaru had grown into a very beautiful young woman of seventeen. The younger girl pulled away from her mother as well. Dark red hair fell in twin streamer to her waist from two heart-shaped buns on the top of her head and her blue eyes were bright despite what she had just witnessed. Much to Hotaru's disgust, Chibi Chibi had surpassed her in height three years earlier. Usagi turned her attention the two professors. She walked over to the professors and hugged them both.  
  
"Dang, Odango, haven't seen you this emotional in nearly a year." Usagi pulled away from the two as the blonde smacked her dark haired companion on the arm.  
  
"Rei, would you act your age already?" Rei stopped and thought about it for a moment.  
  
"Nah, Minako, I don't think so." Usagi smiled and wrapped one arm around each of her daughter's shoulders and lead them down to the Great Hall where they would be sorted, followed closely by Dumbledore and the two bickering professors.  
  
*  
  
Harry, Ron and Hermione headed toward the Great Hall for dinner. The conversation subject was the attack on the magic school in Japan. "It's so terrible," Hermione said, "All those poor people. And their families! What must their families be feeling?" Harry agreed with her, but a much more sinister thought had entered his mind.  
  
"I only have one real question. If Voldemort's deatheaters could have attacked that school, then what is to stop them from attacking Hogwarts?" A heavy silence fell over the group as they entered the hall. Harry looked up and elbowed Ron's side. "Look."  
  
Two new professors were sitting at the teacher's table; the Sorting Hat was placed on the stool in front of everyone and two teenagers stood next to it. The trio took their seats at the Gryffindor table and waited with the rest of the school for the sorting. Dumbledore stood up from his chair and rose a hand for silence. "As you all know, the school in Japan was attacked yesterday. We invited the two remaining professors to come and teach here, and the students who would be allowed to continue in their education to join us at Hogwarts. Professor Aino," he paused while the blonde woman stood momentarily, "will be helping Professor Snape with potions, and Professor Hino will be helping Professor Trelawney with Divination. Now, I want you all to remember that they have all been through a lot in the past forty-eight hours and I expect all of you to treat them with the greatest courtesy." Dumbledore sat back down and nodded for McGonagall to proceed with the sorting. She nodded back, and lifted the Sorting Hat off of the stool.  
  
"Hotaru Black."  
  
*  
  
Hotaru sucked in a deep breath and held it as she slipped onto the stool. She slowly let the breath out as the hat landed on her head, and then drooped over her eyes.  
  
'Ah, the princess of Saturn. It is an honor, highness. And what is this? Princess of Earth as well?'  
  
'Hardly. Mum never became Neo-Queen Serenity.'  
  
'To do that she needs her king, now, enough of that subject. Which house should I put you in. Any of them would do, but I see that there is something you yearn for. I believe that you could find that something in-'  
  
"Gryffindor!" Hotaru plucked the hat off of her head and handed it back to McGonagall, and then found a seat at the Gryffindor table. Now it was her sister's turn.  
  
"Chibi Chibi Black."  
  
Hotaru watched in amusement as her younger sister stood with her eyes closed and lips barely moving, completely ignoring the increasingly frustrated professor.  
  
"What is she doing?" Hotaru turned to look at the red haired boy who had asked the question. She leaned across the table toward him and motioned for him to come closer. He gave her a confused look but complied anyway.  
  
"Look at her ears." Hotaru pointed at the wires that came out of the headphones that were currently occupying her ears. "She's listening to music, and it's turned up so loud that she can't hear anything else," Hotaru paused at their confused looks and answered their unspoken question, "She has her CD player set to work on magic instead of electricity. Just watch. It should be amusing."  
  
*  
  
Chibi Chibi stood in her own little world as she listened to a muggle group. She didn't even notice when Professor McGonagall walked over to her and began to call her name very loudly. She did notice when McGonagall reached out and pulled the headphones out of her ears. Chibi Chibi gave the teacher an irritated look. "What?"  
  
"Get on the stool." McGonagall pointed at the stool as she grabbed the sixteen-year-old by the arm and pulled her over to it. Chibi Chibi yanked her arm away from the angry professor and daintily sat herself on the stool. Because of her hairdo the hat didn't fall over her eyes, but it would have looked less comical if it had.  
  
'The troublemaker. Quite a little prankster, aren't you? Very original though, much like your father.' Chibi Chibi rolled her eyes.  
  
'Look, I'm here so that you can place me in a house, not so you can critique my pranks.'  
  
'Very well. I believe that you are best suited for-'  
  
"Gryffindor!" Chibi Chibi yanked the hat off of her head, tossed it at McGonagall, put the headphones back in her ears and took a seat at the Gryffindor table, next to her sister.  
  
*  
  
Hotaru gave her sister an exasperated look, which went unnoticed as the younger girl began to eat in a rapid pace, which she had inherited from their mother, and bob her head slightly along with the music. Hotaru rolled her eyes and let out a loud sigh.  
  
"So, are the two of you Professor Black's daughters?" Hotaru turned and saw a boy with messy black hair sitting across from her, and next to the boy with the red hair. She smiled shyly. She wasn't normally shy, but there was just something in his eyes that made her nervous.  
  
"Yes. Hotaru Black, at your service," she held a hand out to the boy, who took it in his own and shook it.  
  
"Harry Potter, and these are my friends, Ron and Hermione." Hotaru smiled, recognizing Ron as the red haired boy, and shook both of their hands before turning back toward Harry.  
  
"Harry Potter, eh? I thought you looked familiar," she raised her hands in protest when he subconsciously reached up to touch his scar, "No, no it's not because of that. You look exactly like your father did when he was our age."  
  
"People have told me that." Hotaru nodded and picked at her food. After a few minutes she looked up at Harry, who was half eating and half listening to Ron and Hermione talking.  
  
"You know, if you want to know more about them, then you could always ask my mum. I'm sure that she wouldn't mind telling you." Harry looked up at her with a confused expression on his face.  
  
"More about who?" Hotaru gathered her things and stood up.  
  
"Your parents." She turned and walked out of the hall.  
  
*  
  
The next day was a Saturday and Usagi was a bit later getting up than normal. She reached over onto her bedside table for her memory stone. Her hand met wood and nothing else. She spent the next hour tearing her rooms apart in search of the priceless gem. For the second time in less than a week, she slammed open the door to the Great Hall, which was filled with students, and approached Dumbledore. "My memory stone is gone. I searched everywhere. I can't find it," she growled, fury evident in her voice.  
  
"Try looking behind you." Dumbledore pointed over her shoulder. Usagi turned, and there, hanging in midair in the middle of the room was her stone. She turned and walked toward it, but was met by an invisible barrier that sent her hurled back, slamming to a halt against a table leg. She could barely contain a grunt of pain as the hard wood bit into her back. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Draco Malfoy wave his wand at the memory stone, and then, using a wall as a screen, the images started.  
  
***  
  
Kristin: *hands out pieces of Super Duper Duct Tape to everyone who guess Chibi Chibi as the second daughter* I'm sorry that I didn't tell about Severus and Usagi just yet, but that will be in the next chapter. I promise. Also, after I do that, I will be doing a lot more of focusing on the characters. I really don't have much to go on for Chibi Chibi so I'm having to make pretty much all of it up. Please don't kill me if you don't like how she is turning out. Flames will only be used to amuse my pyromaniac mind.  
  
Special Thanks to:  
  
Shinigami: Everything will be reveal when Sirius shows up. But, that won't happen for a few more chapters.  
  
Alexz  
  
Booyaka: Don't worry about the chapter. I wanted it to be that length. If I didn't want it to then I wouldn't have done it. Neville does deserve some recognition so I gave him some. He is smart; he just doesn't remember things well.  
  
solarmistress17  
  
Silver Moon Goddess: Good. Now can you guess why Severus and Usagi are so close?  
  
Sapphireskies  
  
Death: Sirius won't be coming back for a bit. I haven't decided exactly how long I'm going to wait yet, but it won't be for at least another two or three chapters.  
  
Za Kaze no Nisou  
  
ShInImEgAmI  
  
WindRider-Damia  
  
Luna_the_lune: I like that idea, but I don't think that I will use it on Voldemort. Let's ee. Fudge or Crouch(did I spell that right? If not, would somebody tell me how to?), Fudge or Crouch.  
  
AngelQueen: Great guess. I'm always open to suggestions. If I weren't then I wouldn't be a very good writer. If you mean that you want me to go into more depth about their personalities then I was already planning to do that in the next few chapters. Thanks for the suggestion though. Constructive criticism is always welcome.  
  
Kage-Shadow-of-Darkness: I'm glad that it wasn't too mushy. I was afraid that it would be.  
  
Autumn Ice: I think that this chapter answered your question.  
  
sailorruss  
  
ChibiChaos 


	5. Chapter Five

That was Then, This is Now  
  
Disclaimer: Contrary to popular belief...I do not own Sailor Moon or Harry Potter. *wipes away a tear* I know. It hurts me too.  
  
Kristin: *stares at the readers with a dumbfounded look on her face* ...wow. Talk about hostility toward Draco. I'm starting to doubt whether or not I should continue with my original plans for him. I get the feeling that you would kill me if I did.  
  
***  
  
Chapter Five  
  
Usagi pushed herself up onto her knees as the blurry image sharpened into a younger version of her own face. "No," was all she could get out before it began.  
  
*  
  
A much younger Usagi smiled at the memory stone. Her hair was still a bright gold, and her eyes were the same brilliant blue as Chibi Chibi's instead of silver and dark blue speckled with silver. "Okay, all set. Invisible and set to follow me around," she mumbled under her breath and smiled wider as she introduced herself, "Hi. I'm Usagi. Now Rei made me this great memory stone for my last birthday, but I haven't had a reason to use it until now," her smiled faded into a sad look, "It's Rei's last day here at Hogwarts. Her parents were just killed by Death Eaters and her grandfather wants her with him at the family shrine in Japan. I'm really going to miss her, but I figure, what better way to remember her than to capture her last day here on the very memory stone that she made me? I had better get down to the common room, before somebody comes up to get me." Usagi made her over to the door and down the stairs with a spring in her step that the older version lacked.  
  
A younger Professor Hino looked up from her position in a younger Remus Lupin's lap. "Can't you ever be on time for anything? You're fifteen minutes late." Lily Potter, at that time Evans, stepped into view and hit the fiery priestess over the head.  
  
"Honesty, could you two at least try to get along?" Usagi sank into a chair and smirked at Rei.  
  
"I've been trying to get along with her since our first year; during which, may I add, she labeled me as a demon, and attacked me. Pyro just needs to learn patience and maturity." The look on Rei's face was one of complete disbelief.  
  
"Me!? I," she began as she pointed at herself and jumped from a disappointed Remus' lap, "am not the lazy, clumsy, slob with dumplings on her head!" Usagi leaned further back into her seat and smiled serenely at her irate friend.  
  
"No, you're not. But, where as I stopped wailing every time you insulted me in our fourth year, you still get ridiculously angry when I call you pyro, Pyro." As if to prove Usagi's point, Rei swelled with anger, until Remus grabbed her shoulder and pointed her toward the door.  
  
"Come on. Everyone is waiting for us down in the Great Hall." Remus gently began to push Rei out of the room, while Usagi held her hands out to Lily, who grasped them firmly and pulled her friend up to her feet. The trip to the Great Hall was uneventful and after a time, they finally reached it. They approached an already crowded table and carefully took their seats, so as not to hurt anyone else at the table with wayward elbows or knees. Usagi dropped down next to an untroubled looking Sirius Black, Lily took her place beside James Potter, and Rei and Remus forced a younger Professor Aino to one side, Peter to the other and sat in the space provided. Usagi smiled at everybody at the table as she piled her plate with food, before turning to Sirius.  
  
"So, what have you been up to? You have that guilty gleam in your eyes again, Sirius." She inhaled a bit of her food while the rest of Sirius' face also got a guilty look. "Well?" He shrugged nonchalantly.  
  
"It was nothing. Just a harmless prank on a Slitherin." Usagi was on her feet in less than a second, suddenly looking more like her older self, and startling the students into remembering that the cheerful girl they were watching would become their constantly angry DADA teacher.  
  
"Sirius, you didn't," the almost sheepish look on Sirius' face proved that he had indeed 'done it', "Sirius, I can't believe you! You promised me that you would leave Severs alone. If you're going to pull pranks on people then you could at least do it to somebody who deserves it, like Malfoy!" The table watched in amusement as the mightily Sirius cowered in front of the comparatively tiny Usagi. "What did you do to him," her voice was dangerously low and it was all Sirius could do to point over her shoulder at the approaching Severus Snape.  
  
Usagi looked and couldn't keep her jaw from dropping in shock. His black hair was a horrendous shade of neon pink. The entire table burst out laughing, with the exception of Usagi, who was looking at Sirius with a murderous gleam in her eye, and Minako, who had looked away with a slightly hurt expression on her face. "Sirius Black, if his hair isn't black again in the next three seconds I will make the rest of your life a living hell." Severs instantly had black hair again. Far from satisfied, Usagi turned back toward Sirius. "Well, don't you have anything to say for yourself?"  
  
"Sorry?" Sirius shrank back even more under Usagi's now murderous gaze, while Severus and the table once again watched on with amusement. Judging by the lack of interference, it seemed as though this type of thing happened often.  
  
"You're sorry? You ridicules bloke. You bloody git! You insufferable bastard!! I'll show you sorry!"  
  
At this point James broke into the argument, although from the look on his face it appeared as though he was simply pondering out loud and not giving what he said much thought. "You know Usagi, if you keep yelling at him like that, I doubt that he will ever realize that you've had a crush on him since third year. Oh bloody hell. I just said that out loud, didn't I?" A single look at Sirius' shocked face and Usagi's pained betrayed one confirmed that he had. And if that hadn't then Usagi's drink splashing in his face certainly did.  
  
"I trusted you James. How could you?" She slammed her glass down onto the table, and fled from the room with tears streaming down her face. She didn't stop running until she had reached her dorm room, where she fell onto a chair, half on the chair and half on the floor. Her sobs became heart wrenchingly painful to witness.  
  
A few minutes passed before another person came into view. It was Severus. "Usagi?" When he didn't get a response, Severus lifted the petite girl from the chair, sat down in it and pulled her into his lap. Her back was pressed closely against his chest, his arms were wrapped around her waist in a tight hug and her hands covered his, and her head was turned so that she could cry on his shoulder. Severus tried again, "Usa?"  
  
"He'll hate me now, Sev. I know that he will."  
  
"He won't hate you. If anything, I think that he looked happy when Potter made that slip-up." Usagi looked up slightly so that she could see Severus' face.  
  
"Really?" Severus smiled and hugged her tighter.  
  
"Really. As much as I hate to think about you with him, I have never seen him look at anyone the way that he looks at you. And the same goes for the way that you look at him. Just wait and see, Usa. This could turn out to be the best thing that has ever happened to you." Usagi's tears slowed to a stop and a small smile appeared. She turned so that her shoulder was pressed against his chest, and pressed her forehead against the crook of his neck.  
  
"Thank you, Sev. What would I do without you?" A tired smile spread across his face.  
  
"You would have killed yourself when we were five and you decided you could fly without a broomstick.  
  
"Sev?"  
  
"Hm?"  
  
"You won't ever leave me, will you," she looked up at Severus, "We'll be together forever and always, right?"  
  
"Forever and always," Severus leaned over and kissed the top of Usagi's head, "I promise."  
  
"Good." Usagi yawned loudly and snuggled against Severus. "I love you Sev."  
  
Severus smiled again and laid his head down on top of hers. "I love you too, little one."  
  
Usagi frowned, worn out from crying and half asleep, batted lightly at Severus' arm. "No fair. I'm five minutes older. I have seniority. You shouldn't be able to call me that."  
  
Severus laughed, "It could be worse. I could be walking around calling you my 'ickle sister'."  
  
Usagi pouted and slapped at Severus again before falling asleep. The sleeve of his robe had been pushed up slightly, and on his wrist a golden crescent moon flashed for a fraction of a second. Severus watched her for a few moments before, very carefully, picking her up and setting her on her bed. He pulled a blanket from the bottom of the bed and draped it over her before leaning down and kissing her on the forehead. He smiled again and then walked over to the door. Just before he closed the door, Severus looked back into the room and said, "I won't ever let anything hurt you. I promise that too."  
  
*  
  
The scene changed; this time it was a court room. The stone focused on Usagi, who now looked older, although her hair was still gold, and very pregnant. She was sitting on a bench, staring in front of her with tears rolling down her unnaturally pale face. In the front of the room a haggard, yet still defiant looking Sirius was being dragged to his feet and toward the door. He stopped and stood up straight, walking with his head held high. They had nearly reached the door when Usagi leapt to her feet with a wordless wail. She tried to run forward, but was held back by Minako and Rei, who had been sitting on either side of her.  
  
The two men who had been leading Sirius paused and Sirius turned his head to look at Usagi. He managed to small at her and mouthed the word 'I love you' before turning and allowing himself to be led further from his distraught wife.  
  
They had nearly reached the door when Usagi suddenly began to glow silver. It began slowly at first, just little silver wisps of light swirling around her, led by an unseen wind. Soon the silver was becoming unbearably bright and it was all Minako and Rei could do to keep from being blown away by the wind. Sirius and his two escorts stepped out the door, and with one final scream and a blinding flash of light, Usagi fell to her knees. She braced herself on the floor with her hands and slowly looked up. Once golden hair was now a brilliant silver, and her bright cerulean eyes were now a dark navy, but what stood out the most was the upturned golden crescent moon on her forehead. Rei knelt by her princess and held her as the lunarian royal insignia faded. Minako took a step back to give the two some space. Rei turned Usagi's face toward her. "Usagi? Or should I say Serenity?"  
  
"Usagi. I refuse to fully become Serenity until Sirius is returned to me," as if to prove her point the crescent moon fully disappeared. Usagi's eyes narrowed and darkened in anger, "I will make them all pay. I will watch in delight as their miserable bodies writhe in agony on the floor. If I have to wait ten thousand years and am left with only their descendants I will make them feel the same pain that they put me through. I swear I will. Selene will not look kindly on those who hurt her most favored child. By the moon, they will pay."  
  
Minako knelt beside her friends. "Then we will help you." Usagi looked at the door that her husband had disappeared through and smiled cruelly.  
  
"Thank you." Usagi allowed herself to be pulled to her feet by her two friends. Gone forever was the cheerful child who had once lived in Usagi, now all that was left was an angry woman, hell bent on revenge.  
  
*  
  
Usagi stood as the last image faded and the memory stone fell to the ground. Her entire body was shaking with fury. She turned toward Draco and very slowly walked over to him. Draco took a step back when Usagi locked her gaze with his. Her eyes were a frightening mixture of silent anger and tears, which she appeared barely able to keep in check. He suddenly understood his father's warning to tread softly around the seemingly harmless woman. This woman had killed before and he had no doubt that she would kill again if she deemed it worthy. She was now standing directly in front of him and Draco was finding it increasingly difficult to breath.  
  
When she spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper, but the malice in it chilled him more than screaming would have. "Two hundred points from Slytherin, and detention four nights a week with Filch for the rest of the year," Usagi grabbed the front of Draco's robe and pulled him down so that they were eye to eye, "And if you ever do anything like that again, I swear that I will personally rip your heart out with my bare hands. Understood?"  
  
Draco nodded and with one more hate filled glare, Usagi turned and slowly left the room. As she left the room, Draco's knees gave out and he fell to the floor. Professor Aino stood and walked to where the memory stone still laid. She leaned over, picked it up and then left through the same door as her friend and princess had.  
  
***  
  
Kristin: Well? What do you guys think? Does it explain a few things? Will I ever stop asking these questions?  
  
Special thanks to:  
  
Twilight's revenge  
  
Sailor Millenia  
  
The Future Queen  
  
tenshi_chikyuu   
  
sailorruss  
  
solarmistress17  
  
Silver Moon Goddess: *hands her a piece of Super Duper Duct Tape* Good job on figuring it out.  
  
Luna_the_lune: They don't dislike their mother; they just don't really know her. They will talk more about it in the next chapter. They do love her though.  
  
Alexz  
  
Hilary: But I don't want to kill Draco. He is one of my favorite characters in Harry Potter.  
  
Shinigami: If I did something like that at my school, then I would get expelled.  
  
AngelQueen: I have decided to put some stuff in on Snape and Minako in the next chapter, just for you. Be overjoyed by this great honor.  
  
Booyaka: I don't know if I will make Chibi Chibi play a prank on Draco in particular. She is going to act like the next generation of marauders should though. Pranks and silliness galore! 


	6. Chapter Six

That was Then, This is Now  
  
Disclaimer: Roses are red, violets are blue, these people aren't mine, so please do not sue.  
  
Kristin: Wow, after I posted that last chapter I had exactly nine thousand words. Isn't that neat?  
  
WARNING: This chapter has some large Mamoru bashing in it. It also contains a rather pointless conversation about castration. Why? I have no earthly idea. Blame it on the fact that I am writing this at about midnight and didn't eat much today. Both make me considerably weirder. Consider yourselves duly warned.  
  
***  
  
Chapter Six  
  
Like in the dream that she had had sixteen years before, Usagi ran; although, this time it was away from her memories instead of to them. Her feet carried her out of the school and into the Forbidden Forest. Nothing in the forest could hurt her; her silver blood was poisonous to the dark creatures that lived in the forest. She ran as fast as she could until her lungs burned and her side was cramped. She hadn't run like this in years and found the pain to be a comfort. Her hair had come undone from its braid, and now flew out behind her like a banner. She didn't see the root that tripped her and twisted her ankle. Usagi lay where she had fallen, pressing her face into the carpet of leaves that covered the ground. The scent of decay invaded her nose accompanied by the indescribable woody smell that all forest floors share. She inhaled deeply, taking in the heady scent and allowed her tears to fall.  
  
The stone had brought back too many memories that she had been trying to forget for years. However she was glad that everything that was trapped within the stone had not played. She had been with Sirius the day that Peter had betrayed him, and had been wearing the stone. It was undeniable proof that Sirius was innocent, clearly showing Peter as the one who had blown up the street and killed the muggles. Proof that the ministry had accused her of forging. It also contained a conversation with Lily, where Lily plainly stated that Sirius had refused to be their secret keeper and that Peter would be used instead. Another forgery. Small things like that were shown over and over on the stone. All were proclaimed forgeries and Sirius was sentenced to spend the rest of his life in a nightmare.  
  
After a time, Usagi used the tree whose root had tripped her to brace her as she slowly stood back up. She pushed her way further into the forest and by pure chance stumbled across a clearing. In the middle of the clearing stood a centaur, staring up at the morning sky. Usagi quietly limped over beside him, and gazed up at the barely visible moon. "What ails you?" The centaur's voice was gentle, with a soothing quality that gave Usagi a sense of peace.  
  
"Memories," she continued to stare up at the moon, silently gaining comfort from the floating orb of light.  
  
"Memories are best left in the past, highness." Usagi glanced at her companion.  
  
"How did you know?" The centaur returned the glance.  
  
"The stars speak of you often. Both your past and your future are very great and important things. I would be a fool not to know who you are." Usagi lowered her head, no longer wanting to look at what had once been her home.  
  
"I wish that I knew who I was." Usagi hadn't even been aware that she had spoken aloud until the centaur replied.  
  
"Do you truly not know who you are?" Usagi closed her eyes as tightly as she could.  
  
"I've changed. I changed and I didn't even realize it. I'm not Serenity anymore, but I'm not Usagi either. Serenity was peaceful, wise, and content. Usagi was filled with life, vibrant, and cheerful no matter what. I'm nothing but a cold, hateful person. I deserve to be alone with nothing but my haunting memories." She raised her face as the tears slipped through her eyelids. The centaur placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze.  
  
"Nobody deserves to be alone, least of all you. Both Serenity and Usagi are still in you, you just have to find them again. I must take my leave of you, highness, but remember that, no matter what, the moon and the stars will always be there to guide you." The hand lifted from her shoulder and when Usagi opened her eyes again, the centaur was gone.  
  
"Usagi?" Usagi turned to see Minako push her way into the clearing. She smiled and limped over to her friend. "Usagi! You're limping. What happened?" Usagi chuckled tiredly.  
  
"I tripped. Please don't tell Rei." Minako giggled as she grabbed Usagi's arm and dropped it over her shoulder so that Usagi could use her as a human crutch.  
  
"I promise that I won't tell Rei about your klutz attack. Here, I think that you forgot this." Minako held the dark memory stone out to her friend, who grabbed it and quickly secured the chain around her neck.  
  
"Thank you." Minako smiled brightly, once again showing her bubbly personality.  
  
"No problem, Usa. By the way, what exactly did you say to the boy? He nearly fainted after you left." Minako giggled at the thought while Usagi nodded slightly.  
  
"You mean that you couldn't hear me?" Minako somehow managed to get her laughter under control.  
  
"No. None of us could. You were talking too quietly." Usagi heaved a sigh of relief.  
  
"Good. I could probably have lost my job if anyone had heard me and let's just leave it at that." Minako nodded and smirked.  
  
"Okay," Minako waited for a long moment before asking, "So did you threaten to 'turn him into a eunuch' like you did to that Mamoru idiot during sixth year?" Usagi sighed heavily.  
  
"You aren't going to let this drop, are you?" Minako bit her bottom lip to try and control her smile, and vigorously shook her head no.  
  
"Fine. I threatened to rip his heart out with my bare hands. Are you happy now?" Minako smiled happily.  
  
"Ecstatic. Did you know that Mamoru developed a spell to rectify his little 'problem'?" Usagi's face projected a look of interest.  
  
"Really? I had heard that, but I wasn't sure if there was any truth behind it."  
  
"It is all true. I ran into him a bit before the term started. He asked about you. Apparently his little crush on you is still there." Usagi chuckled.  
  
"You would have thought that he would know better; after all, it was that little crush that finally pushed me to physically attacking him. I'm still surprised that I didn't get detention for that one." Minako laughed loudly.  
  
"I don't think that he ever told. Too embarrassing, you know." Usagi allowed herself a small smile. The two friends spent the rest of the walk back to the castle in humorous silence; broken only by muffled laughter. Memories were put out of mind for a time, chased away by the renewal of a long time friendship. When they reached the school, Usagi and Minako separated. Usagi left to get her now swollen ankle taken care or, and Minako made her way down to the potions classroom, to take a look around before classes on Monday. To her surprise, Severus was already down there. She hesitantly stepped into the room and cleared her throat. Severus looked up, eyes widening in surprise when he saw who it was.  
  
"Hello, Severus. It's been a long time." Severus slowly gained control of himself and managed to regain his indifferent mask.  
  
"Yes, it has. What do you want?" Minako forced a smile at his rudeness.  
  
"I wanted to get a look around the classroom before I start helping you teach on Monday. That is, of course, if it's okay with you, O Mighty Potions Master." Severus raised an eyebrow at the blond woman.  
  
"Sarcasm does not suit you Minako. Very well, take a look around. It is much the same as it was before." Silence reined as Minako quietly made her way around the room, and Severus did everything he could to keep from staring at her. Minako finally stopped in front of Severus and broke the silence.  
  
"Severus? Why did you break up with me?" Minako glanced up through her eyelashes at Severus.  
  
"Why do you ask?"  
  
"Usagi, she said that you, that you were still in love with me after we broke up. I know that it was a long time ago, but were you really still in love with me when you dumped me?" Minako stared up at him and found the answer in his eyes. "You were. You were still in love with me." A silent nod. "Then why?"  
  
"I didn't want you to get hurt." Minako took a step away from him.  
  
"You didn't want me to get hurt. You didn't want me to get hurt?! You bastard," Minako wrapped one arm around her waist and gripped her shoulder with the other as her voice became choked with emotions, "You hurt me Severus! You hurt me so badly that I was physically in pain. That's how much you hurt me! You physically hurt me so I think I should get a little bit of a better answer than your damn 'not wanting me to get hurt'." Severus sat down in a chair and motioned for her to do the same.  
  
"After our fifth year, during the summer, I became a Death Eater," he paused as she gasped before continuing, "But, after my mum was murdered in sixth year, I just couldn't do it anymore. Unfortunately, that isn't an easy group to get out of so I started to use it to my advantage. I became a spy for Dumbledore. However, Voldemort started to become suspicious. He almost had me kill Usagi. If he had found out about us, then he would have had me kill you. Please, Minako, understand, I was doing it for you." He looked at Minako pleadingly as she stood and headed toward the door.  
  
"I'm sorry. I really am, but I just can't. You say that you didn't want to hurt me. Severus, I know that I acted petty and shallow during our school years. I know that, but I didn't care about whether or not I died. I cared about you. Voldemort could have killed my physical body, but you ripped out my heart and killed my soul. You don't seem to realize what you did to me. I won't leave, because these children deserve to be taught, but don't think that things are going to immediately be okay between us." Severus stood and closed the door when Minako reached out for the handle. His eyes silently begged for forgiveness as he stared down at her.  
  
"I'm not asking for a miracle, Minako, but, we are going to be spending the rest of this school year side by side for the most part. I'm not expecting things to go back to the way that they were before, but it would make things a lot easier if we were friends. So, what do you say Minako? Do you forgive me enough to at least be friends?" Minako hesitated as she stared up into his eyes. The same dark eyes that she had dreamed of seeing love in, and had gotten lost in several times. The eyes that had first drawn her to him. The dark eyes that belonged to the only man that she had ever loved, and still did love; although, she didn't plan on telling him that any time soon. She smiled and held out her hand.  
  
"Friends." Severus smiled back, making Minako's heart skip a beat, and shook her hand, before opening the door for her.  
  
"I'm glad."  
  
"So am I."  
  
*  
  
Chibi Chibi was walking back to the Gryffindor common room with a girl who had befriended her the night before. Ginny Weasly was a good person to talk to, and in her Chibi Chibi had found a kindred spirit in the subject of pranks. The two girls were already busily planning the downfall of the Slytherins as they walked. Ginny had tried to talk to Chibi Chibi about what they had seen in the memory stone, but she had refused, saying that her mother's privacy had been violated enough for one day. They were debating the pros and cons of releasing a hoard of rabid weasels at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall when Chibi Chibi heard a boy's voice talking about what had happened that morning.  
  
"Snape and Black related. Who would have thought?"  
  
"I know what you mean. There are absolutely no similarities between them," a girl's voice commented.  
  
"This really isn't any of our business," a second boy's voice stated.  
  
"Oh, I've got it! They have the same scowl," the first boy said and then laughed. Chibi Chibi bit the inside of her cheek to keep from screaming and motioned for Ginny to be quiet while she listened.  
  
"Okay, now that is enough. Sure, Snape can be a heartless git, but Black is pretty nice. I think that she's just lonely." Chibi Chibi smiled at the second boy's words. In one word, he had summed her mother up perfectly. Both of the Black girls knew that their mother acted like a workaholic and distanced herself from people so that she wouldn't get hurt again. Doing that did tend to make a person lonely.  
  
"Come on. There is more to those two them meets the eye. Did you see the mark on Black's forehead and Snape's wrist? I bet that they're demons or something. It would explain a lot." Chibi Chibi's hands curled into fists as she abruptly stopped and turned around. She recognized the three as seventh years that her sister had been speaking to the night before, first at dinner and then in the common room.  
  
"That is enough! How dare you talk about people that you barely know? You have absolutely no right! My mum and uncle have been through things that would make your worst nightmares seem cheerful. If they are hard on you, it's because they want you to be prepared when you leave here. If they are rude to you then you most likely deserve it. It doesn't matter if they are your professors or not. They are people and because of that they deserve your respect. Keep that in mind you arrogant bloke!" Satisfied with the stunned, humbled looks on the three teenagers faces, Chibi Chibi turned back around, grabbed Ginny's arm and walked briskly down the hall. Harry, Ron, and Hermione watched the human time bomb walk away from them with Ginny. Harry turned to Ron.  
  
"I told you that it wasn't any of our business."  
  
Kristin: I'm kind of surprised that nobody said anything about the mark on Severus' wrist. It is kind of important to a part of the story.  
  
Special Thanks to:  
  
Saturnpyroprincess  
  
Moon  
  
Sele: Only a few of the professors really know what the mark means. Hermione will probably do research until she figures it out though.  
  
Kolinshar Jackie-chan Benito: He isn't really evil per say. He just wanted to get back at her for what she said about his dad.  
  
Aeyrn  
  
Usagi Malfoy: Definitely amazingly good-looking.  
  
Comechatcha: Nobody could hear what she said, she isn't telling what she said, and Draco is too scared to tell what she said.  
  
Crazygurl70: *points at Crazygurl70 and screams* MINDREADER!!!! Actually I have been planning for it to be a Chibi Chibi/Draco since the beginning.  
  
AngelQueen: She didn't do that because then he couldn't get together with Chibi Chibi later.  
  
Luna_the_lune  
  
Solarmistress17  
  
Alexz  
  
Sailor Bree  
  
Silver Moon Goddess: Yes you were right, but I was expecting you to be the one to ask about the mark on Severus' wrist and make a guess at it. Sadly nobody seemed to notice it. My careful plotting has been for nothing.  
  
Hilary  
  
Silver Dragonfly  
  
WindRider-Damia  
  
Sailorruss 


	7. Chapter Seven

That was Then, This is Now  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. I just borrow them and then return them with no damage caused. *Pauses as she sees a scuff mark on Usagi's cheek* EEK! *Runs over and rubs it off* Okay...almost no damage caused.  
  
Kristin: I hate disks. I really do. I had this chapter all done and then my stupid disk decided that it didn't want the computer to recognize it. So now I have no way to get to that chapter or several other things that I hadn't gotten around to posting, including my other HP/SM story. *Pouts*  
  
***  
  
Chapter Seven  
  
Hotaru curled up on one of the cozy armchairs in the Gryffindor common room. It had been over two months since she had first come, and she was finally beginning to feel comfortable in Hogwarts. She yawned as she moved in and out of a light nap. Hotaru pretended not to notice when Hermione approached her. The girl may be a genius, but she sure had a hard time taking a hint. Ever since she had seen what was on the memory stone, Hermione had been doing everything within her power to find out what the crescent moon stood for. One of her favorite ways to do this was to try and pump Hotaru for information. She had originally tried to interrogate Chibi Chibi as well, but waking up surrounded by angry weasels had put a stop to that. Hotaru woke up enough to speak to Hermione, as she leaned against the back of the chair. "So, are you going to tell me anything today? Please?" Hotaru sighed as Harry sat down in the chair across from her. Ron was upstairs trying to get the purple polka dots off of his skin. Chibi Chibi never had completely forgiven him.  
  
"I would. Really, but there is this little thing called privacy." Harry laughed.  
  
"Not around here. At Hogwarts, everybody feels that they have the right to everybody else's personal business." Hotaru sighed again, knowing that Harry was right. She looked up at Hermione who was still waiting expectantly.  
  
"Fine. Go to the library, find the ancient history section, and look for books of myths on fallen kingdoms." Hermione smiled widely.  
  
"Thank you. See, Harry? All you need is patience." Hermione turned and walked away. Hotaru snuggled closer to a pillow on the armchair, looking for all the world, like a cat who had just eaten a very large mouse and was extremely satisfied about it. Harry watched her in disbelief.  
  
"Why did you tell her? She has been bothering you for over two months and yet you still told her. What caused you to suddenly give in?" Hotaru yawned again.  
  
"She wasn't going to go away until I told her," Hotaru smirked, "Plus, I've been over that section of the library very carefully, and there is absolutely nothing there that will help her." Harry stared at her for a moment before bursting out in laughter. Hotaru smiled widely and had just drifted into a light sleep when Ginny came up to her.  
  
"Hotaru? I think that something's wrong with Chibi Chibi." Hotaru was instantly awake and on her feet. The panicked expression on her face faded when she saw Chibi Chibi sulking in a corner of the room.  
  
"Oh, you meant mentally. Next time, specify." Ginny nodded and the two girls walked over to Chibi Chibi, who didn't seem to notice them.  
  
"She came in here about twenty minutes ago, refused to talk to anybody, said something that I couldn't understand, and has been sitting there ever since." Hotaru arched an eyebrow at Ginny.  
  
"Did it sound like she was saying a spell," Hotaru rolled her eyes when Ginny nodded, "Perfect, she's in her bubble."  
  
"Bubble?" Hotaru sighed and made a mental note about all the sighing she had been doing lately.  
  
"Yes, bubble. Some people claim to have a personal bubble, but Chibi Chibi actually figured out a spell that makes one. Very annoying, especially considering that she can't hear anything outside of the bubble." Hotaru walked toward her younger sister with her hand stretched out in front of her. She stopped after a few steps and knocked on what appeared to be thin air. Chibi Chibi looked up and mumbled something under her breath.  
  
"What do you want?" Hotaru took a seat next to the agitated red head.  
  
"I want a lot of things, but right now I will settle for you telling me what is wrong." Chibi Chibi heaved a huge sigh, causing Hotaru to wonder if they were contagious or something.  
  
"Uncle Severus decided that if I'm going to pass potions then I'm going to need a tutor."  
  
"So? What's the surprise there? You're terrible at potions." Chibi Chibi clutched her head with both of her hands and groaned loudly.  
  
"Yeah, but you are never going to guess who he has in mind for my tutor."  
  
*  
  
Draco Malfoy walked down a dungeon corridor on his way to the Slytherin common room. He had just finished his last detention of the week and felt miserable about it. He was tired, dirty, and sore all over. His chore had been to clean all of the trophies in the trophy room until he could see his reflection in them. He had nearly been finished when a balloon filled with urple paint had been thrown into the room. Not only had he had to start over, but he also had to clean the paint off of the walls and floor. He had no actual proof that Chibi Chibi had done it, but the fact that she had shown up just minutes later looking overjoyed had been a bit of a clue.  
  
He finally reached the common room and somehow managed to gather up the energy to mumble the password and stumble into the room. The common room was empty when he entered it. He was just about to attempt to crawl to his dorm room when a hand reached out and grabbed his shoulder. Too tired to even jump in surprise, Draco turned around, and found himself face to face with Professor Snape. Draco swallowed nervously. He hadn't been on good terms with the testy potions professor ever since the entire memory stone incident. Draco managed a weak smile as he sat down on the couch, like Snape had motioned for him to do. "Can I help you with something, Professor?"  
  
"Actually you can. One of my students is having trouble in class, and I want you to tutor her. I have discussed it with Dumbledore, and he has decided that you will spend the time that you would have used for detention to tutor the girl. When you are done tutoring her then you will go back to serving detention. Understood?" Draco suddenly felt a lot better. No more detention? It was a dream come true! Say good-bye to manual labor.  
  
"Yes, sir. Who will I be tutoring?" Draco immediately felt his stomach twist when the scowl on Snape's face darkened, and the evil glint in his eyes got brighter.  
  
"Chibi Chibi Black." Forget dream come true. This was more like a nightmare.  
  
***  
  
Kristin: It wasn't as good or as long as the original, but it works. The reunion between Usagi and Sirius is coming up in the next chapter so stay tuned. I'll try to have it up by tomorrow.  
  
Special Thanks to:  
  
Starlit  
  
Hilary  
  
Kolinshar Jackie-chan Benito: Thank you. I know that you didn't mean to, but that review made me laugh.  
  
Lady of the Forest: Congratulations. Because of your shameless sucking up, this chapter is dedicated to you. Enjoy.  
  
Silver Moon Goddess  
  
Alexz  
  
MarsMoonStar  
  
Saturnpyroprincess  
  
Silver Dragonfly  
  
Final-Fan: *hugs Final-Fan* Thank you very much. I love constructive criticism. The answers to most of your questions will be answered in the next chapter. Sometimes I don't realize that the things I write are unclear to others because they make perfect sense to me. If you see anything else that is unclear or needs work, please let me know.  
  
Em: I think that I will put Hotaru and Harry together. Rei was with Remus, but I'm not sure if I will build any on that. Severus and Minako WILL end up together.  
  
The Future Queen: I'm on your favorite list? Ah, thank you!  
  
WindRider-Damia  
  
Sailorruss  
  
Shameless Angel: Hey Whitney! Sorry that I haven't called you yet this weekend. If Dan breaks up with you can I chew him out like I did with Jeremy? Please? He would deserve it if he hurt you. He has cancer? I didn't know that! Poor guy.  
  
Sailor Bree  
  
Sailor C  
  
Underneath Society: Please don't die. Thanks for putting me on your favorites. 


	8. Chapter Eight

That was Then, This is Now  
  
Disclaimer: Why do I always have to write these stupid things? I know that I don't own them and you know that I don't own them. Even if I didn't put one up, what are the chances of somebody finding out who I am and then suing me?  
  
Kristin:  
  
***  
  
Chapter Eight  
  
Chibi Chibi sat in the potion's classroom, with Draco breathing down her neck, while she tried her hardest to get the potion right. He had been tutoring her for a bit over two weeks and they were both getting on each other's nerves. The first session had actually gone fairly well, although all they had done was laid down a few base rules. Draco had demanded that Chibi Chibi treat him with respect, pay attention to what she was doing, and leave all dangerous or distracting means of entertainment in her dorm room. Chibi Chibi had only jokingly asked that Draco not fall in love with her 'no matter how hard it may seem'.  
  
Things had gone downhill from there. Chibi Chibi was concentrating as much as she could on the potion, but when a sudden feeling of weakness possessed her, the bottle she had been holding fell to the ground and broke.  
  
"You clumsy girl! Honestly, Black, how did you even manage to get this far in potions? Longbottom is probably better than you are!" Chibi Chibi gripped the edge of the table she had been working at so tightly that her fingers turned white.  
  
"That is it! I've had enough of this, Malfoy," she picked up her things at whirled around toward Draco, "So I'm not that great at this. Do you honestly think that I don't already know that? I may not be the best student in this class, but it doesn't give you the right to treat me like this!" Draco smirked.  
  
"Your incompetence has nothing to do with how I treat you. I treat you this way, because I'm better than you." Chibi Chibi's face flushed with anger.  
  
"I'm a person Malfoy. I have feelings, just like everyone else! Of course, you wouldn't know anything about those, would you? You are such a self absorbed, arrogant git! You don't care at all if you hurt people, and when you do hurt people, you don't even seem to realize that you've done it. How can you be so heartless? I bet that you still believe that mum is angry at you because you invaded her privacy." The smirk on Draco's face faded, although he refused to allow his confusion to show.  
  
"What other reason does she have for punishing me?" Chibi Chibi rolled her eyes and shook her head.  
  
"In case you didn't notice, the things that were shown were, for the most part, fairly public. She was angry, because you brought up painful memories. You hurt her, Malfoy. You are so incredibly blind. I pity you. Did you even have a good reason for stealing the stone and showing everyone what was on it?" Draco's eyes narrowed.  
  
"First of all, I found the stone. You might want to talk to your mum about getting a new chain for that thing. The one that it was on looked like it would brake at any moment. Second of all, I did have a good reason. Not that its any of your business, but she insulted my father. I don't care if what she said was true; he is still family." Chibi Chibi regarded him with calculating eyes.  
  
"You still didn't have the right to hurt her that much," she whispered, before walking out of the room.  
  
*  
  
Harry stepped out of the DADA classroom and breathed a sigh of relief. It was getting increasingly difficult to get through that class without feeling guilty. Harry had spoken to Dumbledore about Sirius, but so far he hadn't been able to come. It was getting to the point where Harry couldn't look at Professor Black without seeing her the way that she had been in her office or sixteen years ago. He was halfway back to the common room, when Professor McGonagall stopped him. "Professor Dumbledore would like to have a word with you."  
  
Harry nodded, and followed her to Dumbledore's office, where she spoke the password(chocolate frogs) and left him. Harry entered the headmaster's office and stopped short when he saw who was there. "Sirius!"  
  
Sirius Black turned at the sound of his name, and smiled at his godson. "Hello Harry. I was just trying to get Dumbledore to tell me why I was needed here."  
  
Harry looked at Dumbledore. "You didn't tell him?"  
  
"I thought that it would be a nice surprise. Why don't you go show him why he's here," Dumbledore suggested. Harry nodded somewhat numbly.  
  
"Um, sure. Come on Sirius. I think that you're going to like this."  
  
*  
  
Usagi slouched back in the chair behind her desk and ran her fingers through her hair. The tight braid had been bothering her, and so she had undone it. She sighed as she went through the stack of papers on her desk. Five more schools had been attacked in the last month. The results had not been very positive. One of the schools had no survivors left at all. A knock on her door snapped Usagi out of her daze. "Who is it?"  
  
Harry popped his head into the room and waved at Usagi. "Can I come in, professor?" Usagi nodded at the teenager, and he entered the room with a large black dog, right behind him. Usagi's eyes widened. That dog was far too familiar. Harry took a step back when Sirius changed back into a human. Usagi's jaw dropped and all color drained from her face. Her lips moved silently as she desperately tried to regain her voice. Sirius slowly walked toward her, with a cautious look on his face. Usagi braced herself against her desk as she shakily got to her feet. Sirius studied her face as he came closer. "Usagi?"  
  
The question was so soft that Usagi was barely able to hear it, but it was all that she needed to lead her back to reality. Suddenly, Usagi was crying and laughing at the same time, and stumbling over her robe hem, as she literally climbed over her desk, in attempt to get to Sirius sooner. Instead, her foot got tangled in her robe and tumbled on top of Sirius, whom had a hard time trying to stay upright. Usagi's sobs soon overcame her laughter and she laid her face against the Sirius' shoulder while he pressed kisses onto the top of her head. Neither noticed when Harry slipped out of the room. After several minutes, Usagi, managed to get herself under control, and she pulled herself just far enough back so that she could look up at Sirius. Sirius stared back at her. "Your hair and eyes are different."  
  
Usagi smiled weakly. "My body tried to become Serenity."  
  
"You didn't let it."  
  
"How could I become a queen without my king," Usagi pushed a strand of hair out of Sirius' eyes, "They told me that you died."  
  
"They told me that you believed I was guilty." A few tears silently slipped down Usagi's cheeks and Sirius gently brushed them away.  
  
"Is that why you never came to see me?"  
  
"How could I? I saw how Remus reacted when he first saw me again. I really would have died if I had seen the same thing on your face." Usagi choked back another sob.  
  
"I never once, even for a moment, believed that you were guilty." Sirius looked down at her.  
  
"How? How could you not think that I was guilty? There were times when I thought that I was guilty." Usagi smiled and cupped Sirius' cheek in the palm of her hand.  
  
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.[1] That is how I could believe that you were innocent. Because I love you and I know that you would never do that." Sirius leaned down and kissed Usagi on the forehead.  
  
"I am so incredibly lucky. You are the most incredible woman in the universe," a look of wonder covered Sirius' face, "And you're all mine."  
  
"You also have two incredible daughters. Let's not forget them." Sirius' eyes widened even more.  
  
"Two? I have two daughters?" Usagi laughed as she nodded.  
  
"Yes, you have two daughters. Hotaru and Chibi Chibi. Chibi Chibi is exactly like you were when you were her age." Sirius chuckled.  
  
"That bad, huh?"  
  
"How long can you stay?" Sirius rested his forehead against his wife's.  
  
"No longer than a week." Disappointment flickered across Usagi's face before she smiled mischievously.  
  
"Well then, you will have plenty of time to meet the girls tomorrow. Will you allow me to be selfish for one night?" Sirius tightened his grip on Usagi's waist and closed the distance between their lips for a brief intense moment.  
  
"Yes, but tomorrow I insist on meeting them." Usagi grinned.  
  
"I love you, my Shinigami.[2]" Sirius smiled lovingly down at her.  
  
"And I love you, my Tsuki no Tenshi.[3]" Usagi smiled widely, and with the smile still intact, led Sirius out of the door and toward her rooms.  
  
*  
  
Late that night, Usagi slipped into the school library and made her way to the ancient history section. She paused for a moment as she searched for the portion that held all accounts of myths, and slipped a book onto the shelf, when the portion was found. She smiled again to herself, and quietly retreated back toward her rooms, where Sirius was still fast asleep. In the library, the moon shone through the window at just the right angle to cause the book's engraved title to glow. It read 'The Silver Alliance'.  
  
***  
  
[1] I did not, and I repeat NOT write anything from the quotation marks to the one in this. I found it in a book. If anyone can tell me what book it if from, then I will give them a piece of virtual chocolate. If not, then I will tell you in the next chapter.  
  
[2] If you didn't know, Usagi is calling Sirius the god of death.  
  
[3] Again, if you didn't know, Sirius is calling Usagi an angel of the moon.  
  
Kristin: Well, there it is. The long awaited reunion. I really hope that it was good. In the next chapter there will be a family reunion of another kind, and some more info on Minako and Severus, as well as Chibi Chibi and Draco.  
  
Special Thanks to:  
  
Silver Moon Goddess  
  
WindRider-Damia  
  
Rona  
  
Saturnpyroprincess  
  
Sailorruss  
  
Starfury3000  
  
Solarmistress17  
  
Luna_the_lune: Actually, I wasn't planning on them turning out like that at all. It just kind of happened. But I'm glad that you liked them. I wish that I could do that bubble thing too.  
  
Lady Earth Goddess: Um.please don't kill me?  
  
alexz 


	9. Chapter Nine

That was Then, This is Now  
  
Disclaimer: *rocks back and forth, with her arms wrapped around herself* ...not mine...not mine...not mine...not mine *contiues to mumble disturbingly*  
  
Kristin: *stares at the screen for a moment before jumping up and down, screaming* I HAVE OVER A HUNDRED REVIEWS!!!!! EEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!! YIPPY!!!!!!!! *grabs all of the reviewers(a difficult task) and hugs them all at once. She then begins to jump up and down again, while still holding the slightly squished reviewers* I'M SO HAPPY!!!!!!! I also actually did this a school to my friends when I first found out.  
  
***  
  
Chapter Nine  
  
Chibi Chibi lay on her bed, her teeth clenched as she tried to ignore the discomfort her body was in. All of her joints ached, and it took all her self-control to keep for moaning in pain. Chibi Chibi bit her lip as she placed her headphones in her ears, and turned on her CD player. Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata invaded her senses as she eased back against her pillows and the pain slowly ebbed away. A soft sigh slipped from between her lips as she closed her eyes in exhaustion. It wasn't supposed to hurt that badly. Chibi Chibi bit the inside of her cheek in an attempt to keep back tears of frustration. She was getting worse. Suddenly the curtains around her bed were pulled back, and the bright morning sun blinded Chibi Chibi. A smiling Ginny was standing above her, looking far too cheerful for the early morning. "Time to get up. We'll be late for breakfast."  
  
Chibi Chibi sighed, but took her headphones off, and got dressed for the day. Ginny then literally dragged her down to the Great Hall and pushed her down into a seat. Chibi Chibi panted and tried to regain her breath. "Was it really necessary to take the stairs four at a time?" Ginny grinned and nodded.  
  
Chibi Chibi shook her head in exasperation. She put a small mound of eggs on her plate and poked at it, while Ginny ate. She finally looked up from her barely touched breakfast, when owls flooded into the room. She glanced at the teacher's table and frowned. Her mother wasn't there. Usagi never missed breakfast. Chibi Chibi was broken out of her thoughts when a school owl landed, almost on top of her eggs, and clicked its beak at her. She blinked at it, it blinked back, and she reached down and untied a package from its leg. She fed the owl a bit of toast and stared blankly at the package while the owl flew off. Ginny looked over Chibi Chibi's arm, interest practically written on her face. "Well, aren't you going to open it?"  
  
Chibi Chibi untied the ribbon on the small box, and carefully slipped it out of its silver wrapping. A small, golden box lay in her hand. She lifted the lid and pulled out a card that had two words written in a familiar scrawling handwriting on it. 'I'm sorry'. A soft smile spread across her lips. The words wouldn't normally mean very much, but considering who was saying it made them priceless. Chibi Chibi carefully placed the card into the cover of one of her books and turned back to the box. She reached into it and pulled out a velvet cord, with the most beautiful silver pendant she had ever seen on it. The pendant was a square, which hung by one of its points. A crescent moon charm that had been carved out of a piece of black onyx hung from the right point. A star, which had been carved from the same black onyx, hung from the left point. From the bottom point, a musical note, made from the purest of white gold, hung. Inlaid in the center was a dark square ruby. Around the ruby, tiny holes had been drilled.  
  
Beside her, Chibi Chibi heard Ginny gasp. Chibi Chibi smiled, and fastened the necklace around her neck. It rested comfortably in the hollow of her throat. Her eyes searched the Slytherin table, and locked with Draco Malfoy's. He smirked and nodded slightly. Chibi Chibi mouthed the words 'Thank you', as she clutched at the pendant with her hand. He simply smirked wider, and nodded again. Hotaru sat down across the table from Chibi Chibi, with Harry by her side. She stretched her arm across the table and deftly plucked the necklace from Chibi Chibi's hand, pulling her halfway across the table, and let out a low whistle. "That looks expensive. Where'd you get it?"  
  
Chibi Chibi yanked the pendant out of her sister's grasp, and sat back down in her seat. "Malfoy gave it to me. He was apologizing." Both Hotaru and Ginny gained looks of disbelief, and Harry scowled.  
  
"Draco Malfoy does not apologize." Chibi Chibi shook her head, and stood from her seat.  
  
"Well, he just did, and I have it in writing. Now, I'm going to go get ready for my first class, and as far as I'm concerned, this conversation is over." Chibi Chibi turned and walked away from the table. Ginny scrambled to follow her. Harry turned to Hotaru.  
  
"You might want to watch out for her. I wouldn't put Malfoy past luring her into a false sense of security and then hurting her." Hotaru turned in her seat and stared at Draco. She closed her eyes for a long moment, before turning back to Harry.  
  
"He isn't evil, or at least not as evil as you think he is. He's just trying to do what is expected of him." Harry arched an eyebrow at the dark- haired girl.  
  
"You sound so sure of that." Hotaru let the solemn look on her face slip as she smirked.  
  
"That's because I am."  
  
*  
  
Hermione swiftly made her way to the library, during lunch. She had spent countless hours scouring the musty volumes that filled the room to no avail, but she had a good feeling about today. When she reached the library, she headed directly to the ancient history section. She had gone over it more than any other section, but she believed that there could be something there that would help her. Hotaru could have just as easily told her to look in a book about marks left by curses, but she hadn't. Hotaru wasn't the type of person who said something that had no meaning. If she said that the information Hermione was looking for was in this section then it was in this section.  
  
A book that hadn't been there the day before immediately caught her eye. She pulled the book off of the shelf and studied the cover. It was adorned with an upturned crescent moon. Hermione could practically feel the excitement rising in her. She opened the cover and blinked in surprise when a piece of folded parchment fell out. She blinked a few more times before leaning over and picking up the fallen paper. Gentle fingers unfolded the paper, to reveal a letter addressed to her.  
  
Hermione Granger,  
  
I am aware that you have been looking for information on a few things. This book should clear up pretty much everything that is confusing you. The book is not registered in the library and now belongs to you. Do allow anyone else to see it, and never tell what you learn in its pages. Happy reading.  
  
Usagi Black  
  
Hermione stared at first the note and then the book with wide eyes. After a bit of hesitation, she flipped the pages until she reached one near the end of the book that's corner had been folded down. The picture on the page nearly made her drop the book. In the middle of the picture, was Professor Black, with Professor Hino to her right, Professor Aino to her left, Hotaru to Aino's left, and several other women Hermione didn't recognize, surrounding her. Hermione glanced at the text underneath the picture. 'Princess Serenity and her court'. A princess? Whatever she had been expecting, it most certainly hadn't been that. Hermione sat numbly down at a table and began reading.  
  
'The Silver Alliance ended during the reign of Queen Serenity. The most notable thing about Serenity's time as queen would be a scandal involving her daughter, Princess Serenity. The princess had been betrothed since birth to Endymion, the prince of earth, who was her distant cousin through their mutual great-grandparents, Selene, the goddess of the moon, and Endymion, the shepherd. According to all of the legends, Serenity was content with the prospect of her marriage to Endymion, until one of her protectors, Saturn, the goddess of destruction, called Hotaru by her friends, visited the princess. With Saturn came her older brother, Shinigami, the god of death. Serenity fell in love with the reckless god, and he felt the same for her. What followed was a love affair that put Cleopatra and Caesar to shame. Unfortunately, Prince Endymion found out about the two, and on the night that his engagement to the princess was to be publicly announced, he hired a woman from his planet to attack the moon kingdom. The people of the moon fought back, but it was in vain. It ended in a brutal massacre, that only Queen Serenity survived. With what was left of her strength, she sent all of her people into the future to be reborn.  
  
'It is said that when Serenity was killed, she was about three months pregnant, with Shinigami's child. Not much is known about this child, except that Shinigami nicknamed the unborn baby Chibi Chibi, because of its obviously small size. There are also rumors that Serenity had a younger brother. How much younger, is not known; however, it is believed that if the two had been allowed to live, that they would have become more powerful than any being before. Supposedly, they would have ultimately ascended into immortality, and together ruled over all, with the help of their spouses. If Serenity did have a brother, then it highly probable that he was the fiancé of another one of Serenity's protectors, Venus, the goddess of love, called Minako by her friends.'  
  
Hermione turned to the next page, that had two pictures on it. The picture on top showed Sirius with his right arm around Professor Black's waist, and his left hand on Hotaru's shoulder. Underneath the picture were the words 'Serenity, Shinigami, and Saturn'. Beneath that picture was another. This one showed Professor Aino, with her back pressed against Professor Snape's chest, with his arms around her waist, and his head resting on top of hers. Underneath that picture were the words 'Venus and the supposed younger brother of Serenity'.  
  
*  
  
Hotaru sat in her seat in DADA. Her mother had asked her to stay after class, but so far they had done nothing but sit there. She looked up when the door creaked open, and Chibi Chibi stepped into the room. Usagi smiled and motioned for the girls to come over to her. Hotaru stood and joined her mother and sister. "What did you need to talk to us about?"  
  
Usagi smiled wider. "Sweetheart, you can come out now." A huge black dog walked out from behind Usagi's desk, and stopped beside her. "Girls," Sirius, turned back into a human, "I would like to introduce you to your father." Hotaru stared at him for a moment, before running into his arms with a choked cry.  
  
"PAPA!"  
  
Chibi Chibi took a step back and gawked at him with wide eyes. Usagi turned to her younger daughter, who was looking drastically pale.  
  
"Chibi Chibi?"  
  
"No." The softly spoken sent shivers up the spines of the occupants of the room. Sirius released Hotaru from his embrace and stared at the daughter he had never met. Usagi's eyes narrowed as she took a step closer to Chibi Chibi.  
  
"What do you mean, 'no'?"  
  
"I refuse to believe that you came back now. It will be easier if I don't believe it. Why did you have to come back at all? All that you're doing is making things more complicated than they already are!" Chibi Chibi turned and ran out of the room.  
  
*  
  
The Gryffindor common room was a perfect picture of peaceful bliss. Small groups of students were huddled together, doing homework, talking, and basically just enjoying each other's company. The happy atmosphere was shattered when Chibi Chibi stormed into the room, her entire being radiating an anger so immense that it seemed almost tangible. Hotaru entered the room right behind her sister, and looked almost as angry. She reached out and grabbed Chibi Chibi by the arm. "What the bloody hell is wrong with you?"  
  
Chibi Chibi wrenched her arm free of Hotaru's grasp. "What's wrong? You know bloody well what is wrong! I can't deal with it Hotaru, I just can't! I don't want anymore people involved in my life, because it will just ultimately end with them getting hurt. You know everything about what is going on in my life right now. I'm afraid, Hotaru. I'm afraid that I'll hurt him even more than I already have if I get to know him. I'm afraid that I'll like him, and then have to leave him behind. If the circumstances had been different, then I would have run to him with open arms like you did, but they aren't and I can't. Don't you see? It's better this way. You just don't realize it yet." With tears streaming down her face, Chibi Chibi slowly walked up the stairs to the girls dorm rooms. Hotaru, as well as the other occupants of the room, watched her as she left. Finally, with her head bowed in resignation, Hotaru turned and left the common room through the portrait of the fat lady.  
  
***  
  
Kristin: So? What do you think? By the way, the quote was from The Bible. 1 Corinthians 13:1-8 to be exact. *Gives a piece of chocolate to Rowan and Tomoko. Gives slightly bigger pieces of chocolate to Sellenity00000 and tenshi-chikyuu for getting the actual book. Also give Hilary half a piece of chocolate.* Okay, Hilary. Here is the deal. I've only seen a Walk to Remember once and I don't really remember the part that you're talking about. However, I do remember that the girl in the movie was a pastor's daughter, so it is possible that they got the line out of the Bible. Because of that possibility, you get half of a piece of chocolate. I hope that all of you virtually enjoy your virtual chocolate!  
  
Special Thanks to:  
  
Silver Dragonfly  
  
Alexz  
  
Adyen  
  
Rowan  
  
Silver Moon Goddess: You can try to sick him on me, but I don't think that he would actually attack me.I hope.  
  
Rheia  
  
Sailorruss  
  
Fire Ice and Wind  
  
Fate's Child  
  
Tomoko  
  
Pyra  
  
Lady Earth Goddess: Now will you not kill me? Please?  
  
MarsMoonStar  
  
Sellenity00000  
  
Solarmistress17  
  
Celestial DreamBlaze: Hotaru will be with Harry. Ron is already with Hermione. All of the scouts, including Hotaru, Severus, and Sirius have their memories from the Moon Kingdom. The only person that doesn't remember anything is Chibi Chibi, because she wasn't born yet.  
  
Kiyana  
  
Tenshi-chikyuu  
  
Yuki Kamitoki: There is a thin line between hate and love, and Chibi Chibi and Draco are about to cross it. That quote is my absolute favorite part of the Bible. I actually started to write this fic, because I wanted a story that I could use it in.  
  
Hilary: I'm sorry about your Internet. I hope that it gets fixed soon. 


	10. Chapter Ten

That was Then, This is Now  
  
Disclaimer: *Bob, Kristin's muse for those who don't remember, steps out of the shadow's with a piece of paper in hand.* Kristin is currently recovering from her last disclaimer, and so she is not here to tell you that the characters don't belong to her.  
  
Kristin: Hi everybody! I bet that you are all wondering what the hell is going on with Chibi Chibi. If the plot line in my head is correct, then you will find out exactly what it is in the chapter after the next one. If not, then it will be in the chapter after that one. In the mean time, don't ask, cause I'm not telling.  
  
***  
  
Chapter Ten  
  
Hotaru walked into her mother's rooms, where Usagi was pacing in frustration, and Sirius was sitting with his head in his hands. They both looked up when Hotaru entered. "Well, where is she," Usagi asked.  
  
"She is in her dorm room, refusing to believe that we have a father." Usagi massaged her temples.  
  
"I've talked to her about doing things like this. She keeps pushing people away, and we aren't even certain how things will turn out yet. For all we know, the tests could come back positive," Usagi ranted as she paced around the room some more. Hotaru sank next to her father on the couch.  
  
"Yes, mum, and they could come back negative. She's scared, plain and simple. Chibi Chibi doesn't want to hurt anyone, any more than she has to," Hotaru turned toward her father and took his hand in hers, "Please, just give her more time. Once the results come back, either way she will be back to acting like herself. I'm sure of it.  
  
***  
  
Late that night, Usagi slipped out of her bed, and walked to the window. The full moon hung heavy in the sky, almost at the point that indicated midnight. Usagi smiled slightly. Perfect. She paused for a moment by the bed to gaze at her husband's face, before she swung a cloak around her shoulders and left the room. Mere minutes found her deep inside of the Forbidden Forest. The trees suddenly opened up into a clearing, directly in the middle of the forest. In the center of the clearing, stood the ruins of a temple. Usagi entered the remains of the holy building, and knelt before the alter, head bowed and eyes softly closed. A moonbeam filtered into the room, through a crack in the ceiling, illuminating Usagi, and the small circle that surrounded her. Usagi tilted her head back and let the moonlight bathe her face. "I'm ready," she whispered, and then vanished from her spot on the floor.  
  
Usagi reappeared in a large, white circular room, with a dome shaped ceiling. In the middle of the room was a beautifully carved, marble pedestal. Over the pedestal floated the silver crystal. Behind the pedestal, three women looked down at Usagi from a platform where they sat on thrones, carved from gold, silver, and ivory. The woman who sat in the middle beckoned for Usagi to come closer. Usagi walked across the room, and knelt before the women. Selene, the woman in the middle, stood and descended from the platform. "You may rise, Serenity. Why have you come?"  
  
Usagi stood, and looked from her great-grandmother, to her grandmother, who sat on the right, and to her mother, who sat on the left. "I'm ready to gain my full powers." Her grandmother, Selenity, smiled and nodded.  
  
"Why have you waited so long to come into your power, child?" Usagi looked up at the stately woman.  
  
"I didn't want the responsibility, and I wanted the people to suffer for what they had done for me. I know now that I was just as wrong as them, but I am willing to admit my mistakes and make up for them." Usagi's eyes sought out her mother's. Serenity smiled kindly at her daughter, descended the platform, and crossed over to the pedestal. Selene returned to her seat with a weary grin, which seemed out of place on her elegant face.  
  
Serenity motioned for Usagi to stand across from her at the pedestal. Serenity reached across the surface of the pedestal, and grasped her daughter's hands. She closed Usagi's hands over the silver crystal and covered them with her own hands. Serenity began to glow softly, and the light seemed to drain down to her hands. Usagi gasped as her mother's light spread, and her power filled Usagi. Serenity released Usagi's hands and took a step back. "You have your full powers now, my child. There is nothing left to be done here," She smiled kindly at her daughter again, before pulling her into a tight hug, "This will be the last time that you will be allowed to see me, until you become immortal. Give your brother my love, and stay out of trouble."  
  
Usagi pulled away from her mother. "I will," she said and disappeared.  
  
***  
  
The next day, during Divination, Hotaru watched in amusement as Trelawney and Rei argued over Harry's fate. Rei insisted that he would live to an old age, and be generally happy, while Trelawney insisted that he would die tragically the next day. Hotaru stopped in mid-chuckle when the room blurred. She blinked, and the room disappeared, leaving her in a bright expansion of light. She squinted and at the edge of the light, a dark shadow appeared, slowly moving closer to her. As it moved closer, Hotaru became aware of the screams of terror and pain that came from it. In the back of her mind, Hotaru could hear somebody calling her name frantically, before another voice told it to be quiet. She pushed the two voices out of her mind, and focused on the shadow.  
  
Hotaru could feel the evil power that was now coursing the space around her, and could feel Mistress 9 trying to respond to it. She was beginning to lose control and closed her eyes as she desperately tried to fight it when she heard her name being called again, this time much clearer. Her eyes snapped open, and in front of her stood Harry. The shadow was advancing on him, intending to make him one more of its numerous victims. Mistress 9 was forcefully shoved into the recesses of her soul as the sign of Saturn appeared on Hotaru's brow. Before Hotaru could reach Harry, a brilliant light consumed the shadow, and it disappeared.  
  
Suddenly she was back in the smoky Divination room, with Rei and Trelawney standing in front of her, the former looking worried and the latter looking delighted. Hotaru's knees nearly gave out, and the only things keeping her standing were a pair of hands that had a firm grip on her forearms. She weakly looked behind her, and saw Harry, staring down at her with a mixture of worry and terror. Then, Rei, was pushing her back into her seat, which Hotaru could remember getting out of, and handing her a cup of tea to drink. "What did you see, Hotaru?"  
  
Hotaru sipped at her tea for a moment to delay answering. "An unstoppable force is headed toward Hogwarts. It's coming for Harry," Hotaru continued before Trelawney could voice her thoughts, "But, something destroyed it. I have no idea what it was. All I know is that I have never seen anything so powerful before, save once, and I thought that power was gone forever."  
  
Rei nodded in understanding, while the rest of the occupants of the class looked on in confusion.  
  
***  
  
Draco sat in the Potions classroom for Chibi Chibi to come for their study session. She had seemed so happy when he had given her the necklace. The necklace. Draco had no idea what had possessed him to get her that necklace. It was more expensive than anything he had spent on anybody, save himself. And that said nothing about the trouble he had gone through to get it in such short notice. He had put the order through to his family's personal jeweler on the evening after their last fight. He had paid more than double what it was worth to get it.  
  
"Malfoy." Draco's head snapped toward the door, where Chibi Chibi stood. She was wearing the necklace like she was born to wear fine jewels. Draco smirked. Perhaps she was. Chibi Chibi walked into the room, weighed down with her equipment for the lesson and they got to work. If either of them noticed the lack of arguments, then they didn't say anything about it. After two hours they were both beginning to feel a little edgy, and Draco decided that it would be a good time to stop for the day. Chibi Chibi rose from her chair, and began packing her things. Draco watched her and made a snap decision.  
  
"Black?" Chibi Chibi looked up from her things at him and nodded for him to continue. "I was just thinking, and wouldn't it be easier for the two of us to work together if we weren't always on each other's nerves?" Chibi Chibi let out a short laugh.  
  
"Of course it would be easier, Malfoy. How long did it take you to figure that one out?" Draco growled deep in his throat.  
  
"That is exactly the type of thing that I'm talking about. Next weekend is a Hogsmeade weekend. Why don't we go together, and try getting to know each other a little bit better. Maybe if we did that, we wouldn't want to kill each other quite so much." Chibi Chibi stared at him with wide eyes.  
  
"You mean, like a date?" Draco's eyes widened to match the younger girl's.  
  
"No. Just as acquaintances. We wouldn't even be friends." Chibi Chibi studied him for a long moment, and Draco suddenly found himself praying that she would say yes.  
  
"Okay," Chibi Chibi said and then walked to the door. She paused at the door, and turned back toward Draco for a moment, "See you then...Draco." And then she was gone.  
  
Draco stared after her for several minutes. He was shocked that she had said his name, but for some reason it didn't make him angry. In fact, he had loved the way that his name had seemed to just roll off of her tongue. Draco shook his head, to clear it, and headed back to his common room. He was probably just getting sick.  
  
***  
  
Kristin: I am SO sorry that this was late. I'm in a play at school, and I got so busy trying to get some of my lines memorized, that I completely forgot about the story for a few days.  
  
Special Thanks to:  
  
Lost Tenshi: I am so touched that you think my story is the best.  
  
Em: Sure, you can put it on the sight. I check out the sight, and I thought it was great. The personality test said that I was most like Ami. Isn't that neat?  
  
Sailor Millenia  
  
Hilary: Okay, now I remember that part of the movie. *gives Hilary the rest of the piece of chocolate* I would answer your questions, but wouldn't that just ruin the surprise?  
  
Lady Earth Goddess  
  
Alexz  
  
Lady Light: I'm proud to be your first.  
  
Solarmistress17: You will find out what she is talking about later on.  
  
Ami  
  
Black Beyond: Isn't being evil just wonderful?  
  
MarsMoonStar 


	11. Chapter Eleven

That was Then, This is Now  
  
Disclaimer: This is the disclaimer that never ends, it just goes on and on my friends. An author, started writing it, not knowing what it was, and she'll continue writing it to say that the characters do not belong to her forever just because, this is the disclaimer that never ends, it just goes on and on my friends. *Gets dragged of by the nice men in the white coats...again...*  
  
Kristin: Not much to say really. Draco reflects on some stuff. Hermione has a talk with Usagi. Hotaru and Harry have a nice little talk. Mostly just a bunch of talking. No real action.  
  
***  
  
Chapter Eleven  
  
Hermione clutched at her book tightly as she walked down the hallway. According to Harry, Sirius had left that morning, and she was a little worried about talking to Professor Black without him there. She paused outside the door to the professor's office, before knocking on it. "Come in."  
  
Hermione pushed the door open, and stepped into the surprisingly cozy room. Professor Black was sitting behind her desk, sorting through a pile of what looked like the Daily Prophet. She opened a drawer and swept the newspapers into it, but not before Hermione saw a headline that said 'Voldemort Attacks School in France'. Professor Black leaned back in her chair, and watched Hermione expectantly. Hermione swallowed her nervousness, and proceeded with her original intent. "Professor, why did you give me the book?"  
  
Professor Black smiled, somewhat unexpectedly, and took the book out of Hermione's hands. She flipped to a page that said Mercury at the top, and handed the book back to younger girl. "That's Mercury, although we always called her Ami. She was reborn, just like the rest of us, and is at the moment working as a muggle doctor in Germany. You see I keep close tabs on my scouts. They were my protectors, but they were also my friends. Ami was never very strong physically, but I think that we depended on her in a battle more than anyone. She was the brain behind everything that we did and I admired her a great deal for that.  
  
'We had a life between the moon kingdom and this one that is not written in that book. You see, Beryl, before she died, screwed with the timeline, sending us into an alternate universe, where we were given false memories, and constantly under attack. We would all have died several more times than we actually did in that lifetime if it wasn't for Ami. She was the one who actually figured out what had happened, and had Pluto send us here as babies to start over. All of us were loyal to each other, but I think that we would all agree that Ami was the most loyal of all. She cared about a lot of things that weren't scout related, but if any of us needed help, she would drop whatever she was doing, and come to our aid. Even if she knew that she wouldn't survive.  
  
'I've watched you Hermione Granger and you remind me a great deal of Ami. You're intelligent. Loyal to your friends. Filled with an inner strength that few see, but is admired by those that do see it. I knew that you wouldn't betray me, or my secret. However, just so you know, I did place a spell on that book. If you talk about it or show it to anybody who has no previous knowledge of the Silver Millennium, it will disappear. A safety precaution, which I'm sure you understand." Professor Black smiled again this time at the dumb struck look on Hermione's face.  
  
"If that was all that you wanted to know, Miss Granger, then I believe that this little meeting is over."  
  
Hermione snapped out of her daze with a few blinks and shook her head. "Actually, there was something else."  
  
Professor Black looked up from her desk. She hadn't expected for there to be anything else in the conversation. "Is that so? Well, what is it?"  
  
Hermione flipped a few pages in the book and handed back to her professor. It now showed Uranus. "I know that I've seen that woman before. I don't know where, but I have seen her. You just said that you 'keep tabs' on your scouts, so I figured that you would be able to help me."  
  
Usagi barely glanced at the picture, before handing it back to Hermione. "I am not surprised that you have seen her, although I am surprised that you recognized her. She has changed quite a bit in appearance since this picture was taken. I'm afraid that I will not be able to give you the information that you want. I have it, but it isn't my place to tell you. There is a student in the school who would be able to answer that question. However, I don't believe that you two are exactly on speaking terms. Now, if that is all, then I would appreciate it if you left. As much as I have enjoyed our little talk, I still have a great deal of work to do, and talking to you isn't helping to get it done. Please don't be offended by my sudden desire to get you out of my office, and don't be discouraged by my lack of cooperation. Good day, Miss Granger, and remember, keep the book secret if you wish to keep it at all."  
  
Hermione nodded, and left the office. She suddenly had a lot more to think about.  
  
*  
  
Hotaru fell down backwards onto a couch in the Gryffindor common room. Her legs were bent at the knees and hung over the armrest, and her head rested in a startled Harry's lap. She smiled serenely up at him. "Mum told me what you did." Harry placed the potion's paper he had been writing on the cushion next to him, and tried to not look bothered by Hotaru using his lap as a pillow. He failed miserably.  
  
"What did I do?" Hotaru stretched her arms over her head, before crossing them over her stomach.  
  
"Nothing to be ashamed of. You brought my dad here. I don't think that I have ever seen my mum as happy as she has been in the last week. She was right to try and get custody of you. You deserve so much better than what you have gotten." Harry's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion.  
  
"What do you mean?" Hotaru frowned slightly.  
  
"Nobody ever told you, did they? Bloody hell, Harry, just think about it. My dad was your dad's best friend, and they made him your godfather. My mum was your mum's best friend, and she was married to your dad's best friend. Now, what would the logical conclusion be in this situation?"  
  
"Are you telling me that Usagi Black, is my godmother?" Hotaru arched an eyebrow at Harry.  
  
"There's need to sound so upset about it." She plucked one of Harry's hands off of the seat, where it had been resting and began to bend his index finger back and forth. Harry threw a dismayed look first at his hand, and then at Hotaru. She laughed, but released his hand and said, "You need to loosen up, Harry. How do you ever expect to get a girlfriend if you're always so uptight?"  
  
"Who said that I wanted a girlfriend?" Hotaru cocked her head to the side as best as she could while lying down.  
  
"You don't? You're probably the only guy at this school above second year who doesn't. Geez, Harry, you have a bony lap." She rolled over onto her stomach, grabbed a pillow from the end of the couch, placed it on Harry's lap, rolled onto her back again and laid her head back down all in one fluid movement. As she squirmed into a more comfortable position, Hotaru couldn't keep from laughing at Harry's bewildered facial expression. "Now, where was I? Oh yeah, your lack of a girlfriend. So why don't you want one? Scared of commitment? Don't want to give up your spare time?"  
  
"I really don't want to talk about it, okay?" She studied his face for a few moments and then smiled gently.  
  
"Okay. But, if you ever want to talk about it, because I can tell that it's bothering you, remember that I'll always be here for you." Hotaru smiled again. She stood up, and crossed to the back of the couch. She leaned over the top of the couch, her face only inches away from Harry's. "Anyway, about that thing with my mum? Thanks."  
  
Hotaru pecked him on the cheek, and then ran upstairs to her dorm room. Harry sat still for a few long moments, completely stunned. He came out of his daze when Ron sat down next to him, and poked his arm a few times. "So, what was that all about," Ron asked. Harry glanced in the direction that Hotaru left.  
  
"I don't really know."  
  
*  
  
Draco paced back and forth in his dorm room. There had to be something wrong with him. He was positive that if he wasn't sick, than he was at least under a curse, a hex, or something. It was impossible that he was actually falling for Chibi Chibi Black. Simply out of the question. She was stubborn, annoying, insufferable, beautiful, high-strung...wait just a second. How did beautiful get in there? Draco groaned loudly and swung his cloak around his shoulders. Maybe a walk would take his mind off of things.  
  
He stalked out of the dungeons, younger Slytherins cowering as he passed. He was frustrated and angry, and it showed. Draco paused, taking a few deep breaths to calm down and replace his impenetrable mask before continuing. Despite his efforts, his thoughts kept traveling back to Chibi Chibi. After thirty minutes of failing to banish her from his mind, Draco simply started to think of reasons that he couldn't like Chibi Chibi. So far, nothing that he had was in the least convincing. He sighed heavily, and raked a hand through his hair.  
  
His musings were interrupted by the sound of laughter, drifting through an open window to his left. Draco walked over to the window, and looked down. Below him was the very person he had been thinking about, and her friend Ginny. Chibi Chibi was gesturing wildly with her hands, and laughing loudly. Her already bright eyes sparkled with excitement. Draco swore that he felt his heart skip a beat. He backed away from the window when Chibi Chibi suddenly looked up, her eyes locking with his. His throat went dry, and it was suddenly very hard to breathe. Draco started toward the infirmary. There was no other explanation. He had to be sick.  
  
***  
  
Kristin: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. I was too busy being shocked at going from getting eighteen reviews a chapter, to eight reviews a chapter. See? More reviews do make the chapters come out faster.  
  
Special Thanks to:  
  
Lady Light: Serenity-mother, Selenity-grandmother, Selene-great- grandmother.  
  
Sailor Bree  
  
Sailor Millenia: She isn't going to become Neo-Queen Serenity for a while yet. Yes, this will be Draco/Chibi Chibi  
  
Alexz  
  
Kolinshar Jackie-chan Benito: Sorry about your Internet. I would probably die if that happened to me.that's kinda sad, isn't it?  
  
Booyaka: There is a reason that Malfoy is OOC. I have a theory about him. I don't think that he is evil, or even all that bad of a guy. It's obvious that he respects and admires his father a great deal. Because of that, I think that Draco tries to act like his father; however, I don't think that he really wants to. It's all just a mask that he is putting on, and Chibi Chibi is starting to peal it away. Does that make any sense at all?  
  
Silver Moon Goddess  
  
Adyen 


	12. Chapter Twelve

That was Then, This is Now  
  
Disclaimer: I plead the fifth.  
  
Kristin: I never know what to say in these things.  
  
***  
  
Chapter Twelve  
  
The Slytherin's seventh year boys' dorm room was quiet and peaceful, the only sound being the gentle breathing of its sleeping occupants. A wispy voice that seemed to float through the air broke the silence, and plunged Draco onto an unwelcome consciousness. "Draco." Draco tensed as the voice sounded again. He climbed out of his bed, and pulled a robe over his pajamas. "Draco." He followed the voice out to the common room. Standing in the middle of the room was Chibi Chibi. Her bright red hair had been let down from its buns, falling in gentle waves around her hips, and the long, white nightgown that she wore, made her smiling face seem to glow.  
  
"What the bloody hell do you think your doing in here?" Chibi Chibi smiled slyly and crossed over towards Draco. One slender, white arm snaked around his neck while the other rested lightly on his chest.  
  
"I'm not doing anything, because, I'm not really even here. I am a figment of your imagination. A mere conjuring of your subconscious. You know, the part of you that has to try and tell you things through dreams, vision, and the such, because you're too ignorant or stubborn to listen to it during the day. As your subconscious, I know things about you, that even you don't know. I want you to answer me one question Draco, and I want you to answer it truthfully. Are you in love with me?"  
  
"I, I don't know." Chibi Chibi laughed quietly and shook her head.  
  
"You do know, Draco. You just don't want to except what you know. Very well then, have it your way." Chibi Chibi turned from a confused Draco and knelt before the dying fire. "It's time to go, Draco. Just think about what I asked you."  
  
Draco closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again, he was lying in his bed.  
  
*  
  
Chibi Chibi paced nervously in her dorm room as she brushed her hair. The room was empty, except for her and Ginny. "Chibi Chibi, your wearing a hole through the floor. Stop before the house elves come in and yell at you. So, you're really going to go through with this?" Chibi Chibi quit pacing, and fell down on her bed, where Ginny was sitting.  
  
"Yes, I'm going through with it. Why wouldn't I? Don't answer that. Should I wear my hair up or down? Should I wear earrings? What would be a good opener for a conversation? Why in Selene's name am I so nervous?" Chibi Chibi looked at Ginny with large, scared eyes. Ginny pulled her friend to her feet, pried the hairbrush from her hand, and began to brush the snarls out of Chibi Chibi's hair.  
  
"Down, yes, the big game between Gryffindor and Slytherin next week, and I have no earthly idea. I thought you said that this wasn't even a real date."  
  
"I did, and it isn't. I'm just so nervous. I mean, it's Draco. He's such a prat, but sometimes he can be so sweet." Ginny laughed.  
  
"Obviously, you see something that I don't; although, I will admit that he is pretty cute. Well, if he hurts you at all toady, then I'm sure that Ron will be more than willing to make him pay." Chibi Chibi let out a loud laugh.  
  
"As thankful as I am for the offer, I'm sure that I won't need it. Oh no, I'm going to be late!" She grabbed the brush out of Ginny's hand, pulled it through her hair for a few more strokes, and ran out the door with a small wave towards Ginny. Chibi Chibi stopped outside of the seventh year girls' dorm room, and poked her head around the door. "Hotaru?"  
  
Hotaru looked up from where she was reclining on a stack of pillows on her bed. "What do you want?" Chibi Chibi smiled hopefully.  
  
"Can I borrow your earrings," she asked.  
  
"Which ones?"  
  
"The ones that you're wearing?" Hotaru rolled her eyes, but unfastened the earrings and stood to give them to her younger sister.  
  
"Be careful with them." Chibi Chibi grinned widely.  
  
"I will be. Thanks." She calmly walked out the door, but as soon as she was out of sight, she broke into a run.  
  
*  
  
Draco waited by the doors to the Great Hall for Chibi Chibi. She was late. Five minutes. Ten minutes. Fifteen minutes. He was just about ready to give up and leave when she ran into sight, panting heavily and completely oblivious to the fact that he was standing right in front of her. Her hair was out of its usual buns, painfully reminding Draco of his dream from the night before. She would have run straight past him if he hadn't reached out and grabbed her around the waist. She jerked to a stop and twisted around, practically molding his arm to her body. Her face was close enough to his that he could feel her warm breath against it. It would have been the perfect romantic moment if her foot hadn't gotten caught on the bottom of Draco's robe, sending them both sprawling to the floor.  
  
With her right on top of him, Draco couldn't keep from realizing how thin Chibi Chibi was. Her flowing robes hid it well enough, but the girl was almost literally skin and bones. He glanced at her suspiciously out of the corner of his eye while he helped her back up to her feet. Neither said anything about it, but it was implied that the event that had just occurred would only be known about by the two of them. The two didn't say anything during the trip to Hogsmeade. They walked around the village for nearly thirty minutes in stony silence until Chibi Chibi groaned loudly and exclaimed, "This is ridiculous! We decided to do this so that we could get to know each other at least a little bit. Now, are we going to talk, or are we just going to stand here wallowing in an uncomfortable silence?" Draco smirked.  
  
"I actually kind of like wallowing in the uncomfortable silence." She rolled her eyes and slapped Draco's arm.  
  
"Would you please take this seriously?" He stared at her for a long moment.  
  
"Okay, I will. Maybe it would be better if we just started over," he suggested. She smiled, and held out her hand.  
  
"Hi, I'm Chibi Chibi Black. It's nice to meet you." Draco grinned in a very unDraco like fashion and shook her hand.  
  
"Hello, I'm Draco Malfoy. Would you care to accompany me for a butterbeer?" Chibi Chibi laughed lightly and hooked her arm through his.  
  
"I would love to."  
  
*  
  
The first thing that Harry, Ron, and Hermione saw when they stepped out of Zonko's was Draco and Chibi Chibi walking down the street. Arm in arm. Laughing. After about four double takes apiece, they all seemed to realize that the sight in front of them was in fact real.  
  
"What does she think she's doing?" Harry asked angrily. "He could hurt her!"  
  
Ron was unable to do anything but sputter as he attempted to at first talk, and then charge at Draco. Hermione grabbed the back of his robe, and easily avoided the argument that definitely would have happened had she not. She studied the two with a calculating eye for a long moment before finally asking, "Do you think that Hotaru knows?"  
  
"Knows what?" The three startled teens jumped about a foot into the air, and then slowly turned around to face Hotaru. Harry numbly pointed over his shoulder at the backs of objects of their conversation. "Oh, that. Of course I know."  
  
Ron's jaw dropped, but he finally managed to get his voice back. "And you let her go out with him? Even after everything that he's done to you? No to mention the fact that he's a Malfoy." To add to their surprise, Hotaru began to laugh.  
  
"If there is only one thing that you should know about Chibi Chibi, then it's that you never tell her what to do. You make a rule, she ignores it. You set up a barrier, she finds a way around it. You lock her in her room, she will climb out the window. She actually did that last one. Besides, I haven't seen her that happy in a long time. She deserves to have fun, especially with all the crap going on in her life right now, what with the test results coming back positive and all."  
  
"What test results?" Hermione asked, always interested in tests. Hotaru's eyes widened and her already pale face lost what little color it had.  
  
"Um, I'm not really supposed to talk about it. It's kind of private. I should go now. Bye." Hotaru ran away from the trio and immediately got lost in the crowd.  
  
*  
  
Draco and Chibi Chibi sat in the back corner of 'The Three Broomsticks' talking. Empty butterbeer bottles littered the top of their table. They had mostly spoken about school and their teachers, carefully avoiding any mention of Chibi Chibi's mother and uncle. The subject slowly turned from the safe topic of school to the more dangerous topic of fears and hopes. Draco drained the last of his bottle of butterbeer and leaned across the table toward Chibi Chibi. "So, what is the one thing that you are the most afraid of."  
  
"I'm afraid to die. I'm not afraid of death, but I terrified of dying. I think it's because I have no control over it. I'm scared that after I die, somebody will look at my life and say that I didn't live it to its fullest potential. I'm sorry. That probably didn't make any sense at all." She stared down at her lap, her face burning in embarrassment.  
  
"Actually it made perfect sense." Chibi Chibi laughed nervously and slowly lifted her gaze up to meet Draco's. He allowed his facade of coldness slip completely and grinned at her. She smiled back at him.  
  
"Let's go do something else." Draco cocked his head to the side and furrowed his eyebrows together in mock hurt.  
  
"Don't you want to know what I'm scared of?" She reached across the table and took one of Draco's hands in her own.  
  
"Of course I want to know, but I don't think that you really want to tell me, or for that matter that you're ready to tell me. You've shut yourself off from people for so long, that after you have gotten over your initial suspicion of a person, when they show you the faintest glimmer of friendship or compassion you're willing to spill your heart out to them. This has been the first time that I have really talked to you, a real conversation, not just an argument, and already I want to know your hopes, dreams, everything, but not until you're ready. And if you look inside of yourself, then I think that you will see that you aren't." Draco's jaw literally dropped.  
  
"Don't look so shocked," she said with a light laugh. "You're kind of like a good book with a really difficult lock. Once you figure out how to open the look, all you have to do is read the words, or in this case, the small things about your facial expressions that most people would miss. Like the way that you get a really small tick in your left cheek when you get upset. Kind of like the one you have right now." She laughed loudly when Draco reached up and touched his cheek. He shook his head, and placed some money on the table for the drinks.  
  
"If you will allow me to quote you, 'let's go do something else'."  
  
Doing something else consisted of walking languidly down the street in a comfortable silence, peering into shop windows. Somewhere over the course of about twenty minutes, Chibi Chibi latched her hand onto Draco's to pull him over to look at a window display, and had seemingly forgotten to let go. She suddenly tightened her grip on his hand, and pulled him into a store called 'Mystical Melody'. She released his hand, and quickly moved towards the back of the store. When he caught up with her, she was tenderly lifting a violin off of its stand. After a moment's hesitation, she positioned the violin appropriately, placed her fingers on the strings, and slowly drew the bow across the strings. She lowered the bow for a moment, before raising it again, and beginning to play a slow, mournful song.  
  
Suddenly, the question from his dream popped into his mind. Could he possibly be in love with her? He stared into her eyes, no longer seeing the overly confident prankster, but an exhilarated young woman. Her cheeks were flushed in excitement. Her eyes shone with a spirit that Draco had never seen before. In those eyes he could see a soul that he would do anything to protect, even if she never loved him. In that instant he knew. He was in love with Chibi Chibi Black.  
  
Excitement and terror fought for control over his emotions. Terror won. It felt as though ice water had replaced his blood and was running through his veins when he realized what had happened. He couldn't be in love with her. His father would kill him! Not mention her mother and uncle. And then there was her father. It would be a disaster! He quickly regained control of his emotions. If he were to stop spending time with the little minx that most people called human, he knew that he would slowly, but surely, be inwardly killing himself. He wouldn't tell her. Her friendship was quickly becoming one of the most important things in the world to him. He had never had a real friend before. His father had always told him what to do, who to associate with, everything. He wasn't going to ruin this now. Not when he was finally happy. He was jolted out of his thoughts when the song ended.  
  
Clapping sounded behind them. Chibi Chibi lowered the violin, and they both turned around. A plump, elderly witch stood, applauding her. "Hello, dear. You may call me Emily. I own this shop. Do you like that violin?" Chibi Chibi smiled, and placed the violin back on its stand.  
  
"Yes, I love it. It sounds as beautiful as it looks." Emily smiled.  
  
"It's a soul violin. It reflects the passion that the player feels for the music they are playing. I don't believe I have ever heard anyone play it as beautifully as you do. Are you interested in purchasing it?" Chibi Chibi looked wistfully at the violin before shaking her head no.  
  
"I already have a violin. As much as I want that one, I don't need it," she said softly, her lips twitching into a smile for the briefest of moments. "Thank you for letting me play it, even though I didn't exactly ask if I could. Come on Draco. We should get going." Draco nodded his head at the shop owner and followed Chibi Chibi out the door. Once they were out the door, Chibi Chibi let out a long sigh.  
  
"Something wrong?" She glanced at Draco, and shook her head no.  
  
"I just really liked that violin."  
  
"Then ask your mum if you can get it." She rolled her eyes and let out a short laugh.  
  
"You don't get it, do you? Like I told Emily, I already have one. My mum isn't going to buy me a new one when I already have a perfectly good one. Especially one as expensive as that one was. Let's just drop the subject and head back towards the castle, okay? Oh, and while it's still on my mind, will you please help me with a potion and not tell Uncle Severus about it?" Draco blinked at the sudden change in the conversation.  
  
"I guess I could. Would you mind going back to the school by yourself? I have something that I need to do."  
  
"Hm? Oh yeah, sure. Why not? See you tomorrow for my tutoring." Draco waved good-bye to Chibi Chibi and walked back into the crowd.  
  
***  
  
Kristin: I am so sorry that this took so long. I had a lot of things going on in my life. First I had writers block. Then I got sick. Then on Monday this week one of our horses died. I know that a lot of you won't see this a big deal, but it is to our family. We had only had Lynx, our mare, for a few weeks, my horse Sweetgirl died a couple of months ago, and after Lynx died we found out that she had been pregnant. If any of you care, she broke her leg, and we had to put her to sleep. We gave her three shots. One to make her drowsy, one to make her fall asleep, and one to stop her heart. Even if we had let her live, we would never have been able to ride her again.  
  
Special Thanks to:  
  
Sele: You didn't miss anything. Everything about the tests will be revealed in chapter thirteen.  
  
Solarmistress17: Mamo-baka is just kinda floating around. I mentioned him once, but I'm not sure if he will ever actually appear. She won't become queen for a while.  
  
The Queen of all who say Moo: Hi Emily. I know that you won't be reading this since you aren't reading my story anymore, but thanks for reviewing what you did read. You gave me my first flame on this story by the way.  
  
Silver Moon Goddess  
  
PallaPalla-chan: I feel incredibly honored. Sorry that this took so long.  
  
Em  
  
Lady Light  
  
Alexz: I haven't checked, but I think that you have reviewed every chapter of this story so far. For your loyalty I dedicate this chapter to you.  
  
Sailor Bree  
  
Kolinshar Jackie-chan Benito: Haruka isn't at Hogwarts. She will appear briefly in an upcoming chapter, but she won't have a big role for at least a few more chapters.  
  
Mary Bachiu  
  
Ami: If I can't get rid of you, then can I tell my parents that you followed me home and keep you as a pet? Seriously though, I don't want to get rid of you or any of my luffly reviewers. I love them all. (but I love the ones that put me on their favorite lists more)  
  
Lyndzi  
  
Silver: She was born to Usagi simply because I chose to do so with my special fanfic author powers.privileges.thingys.anyway she just was. You will find out what is wrong with Chibi Chibi next chapter. 


	13. Chapter Thirteen

That was Then, This is Now  
  
Disclaimer: I hate these things. I know that I don't own it. You know that I don't own it. Am I the only one who thinks these are a repetitive waste of time?  
  
Kristin: This chapter doesn't really have any more action than the last chapter, but it should be interesting. I have recently realized that I actually have a writing style. It includes progressing my stories by leaps and bounds through time. I kind of dislike writing about things that are irrelevant, so if there is nothing going on for a month or so, I will just skip that time.  
  
***  
  
Chapter Thirteen  
  
Having to spend over an hour in a dark, cold dungeon for a potions class with one irritable professor is no fun. Having to do so with two irritable professors is even less so. When the two professors are at each other's metaphorical throats, disagreeing about a potion, it is less enjoyable than a bad day in hell. One would think that such a situation would never arise at a school as organized as Hogwarts. One would be thinking wrong. The tension in the air was an almost tangible thing. Christmas was quickly approaching, sending the students into a frenzy of uncontrollable excitement and the professors into impatient bundles of raw nerves, frantically trying to cram more knowledge into their students before they left. Minako Aino and Severus Snape were no exception.  
  
"I'm telling you, Severus, you put the newts eyes in first. Not the dragon scales," she hissed at her fellow teacher in a volume that she obviously thought the students couldn't hear. They could.  
  
"They do not. The scales go in first."  
  
"They do."  
  
"They do not." The students were now hopelessly distracted from their potions as they watched their teachers progress from a mild disagreement to a full blown childish argument.  
  
"They do!"  
  
"They do not."  
  
"They DO," she shrieked, causing several of the students to cover their ears and Severus to wince.  
  
"An incompetent idiot would know that you put the scales in first. If you don't, then the potion won't come out as potent as it is intended to be." Minako's jaw dropped, and her eyes narrowed into icy blue slits.  
  
"So, now I'm an incompetent idiot?" The students could practically see the anger radiate from around their professor's petite body.  
  
"Just for the record, I didn't call you an incompetent idiot. You called yourself that all on your own." An infuriating smirk twisted on Snape's lips.  
  
"If I'm an incompetent idiot, then you must be even more of one." The smirk dropped from Snape's face to be replaced with a heated glare. "After all, intelligent people don't date incompetent idiots. Is that not so, Severus?" By now, it was becoming obvious to the students that their professors had completely forgotten about their existence, so involved they were in their argument.  
  
"I did not date you because you were or were not an incompetent idiot. That factor, which is yet to be determined, had nothing to do with my asking you out."  
  
"Then why did you ask me out? What caused the high and mighty Slytherin to stoop so low as to ask a mere Gryffindor to go out with him?"  
  
"I asked you out, because you were perfect! You were smart, funny, and intelligent. Damn it, Minako, I was in love with you!" Snape growled low in this throat as he glared at his co-teacher. Minako's hand flew to her mouth, eyes wide as they locked with Severus'. After several long, tense moments, Snape suddenly seemed to realize that the classroom was still filled with students. "Any student who isn't out of this classroom in the next ten seconds will lose fifty points for their house."  
  
The tone of his voice alone was enough to get the sixth year Gryffindors and Ravenclaws to flee from the room. However, several of the students hovered around the door, hoping to hear what was going on.  
  
"Ahem." The students that had stayed at the door looked behind them and saw Chibi Chibi. On her face was a glare; a terrifying mixture of her mum's, father's, and uncle's, that promised pain if they did not leave. She casually twirled her wand in her hand. They all ran down the hallway as quickly as they could. With them gone, Chibi Chibi and Ginny silently pushed the door open and watched the scene that was going on.  
  
Minako took several steps forward, bringing her closer to the ominous man, without breaking eye contact. "You were in love with me?"  
  
"You already knew that," he said with a snort, turning away from the golden- haired goddess, finally succeeding in tearing his eyes away from hers. "And since you already knew that, we really have nothing to discuss, which means that you can get out of this room and leave me alone."  
  
"I think that you owe me an apology, Severus." Minako took an involuntary step backwards as Severus whirled around and leaned over so that his face was mere centimeters from hers. His dark eyes flashed dangerously with an anger that chilled Minako to her core.  
  
"And just what, do you presume, should I be apologizing to you for?"  
  
"You called me an incompetent idiot in front of our class," she said, sweat beginning to form on her forehead from her discomfort, due to her current position under Severus' intense stare.  
  
"I never called-," he began before Minako cut him off.  
  
"Fine, then, you didn't call me one, but you did imply it, and for that I deserve an apology!" Minako gasped as Severus' controlled anger seemed to spiral out of control and his eyes gleamed with an almost insane rage.  
  
"All right, you ungrateful little wench, you shall have your apology since that seems to be all that you care about! I apologize for not calling you an insulting name. I apologize for jeopardizing your position with the students. I apologize that you're the most beautiful creature that I have ever seen. I apologize for falling in love with you. I apologize for being fine until you came back into my life. I apologize for still being in love with you! What more could you possibly want," he snarled.  
  
Tears gathered in Minako's eyes as she reached up and grasped the collar of Severus' robe. Severus looked at her, his eyes silently asking her what she was doing. Then, suddenly she pulled at his collar, crushing her lips against his in a bruising kiss. Her hands slipped behind his head, fingers intertwining with his hair. After a split second of hesitation, Severus wrapped his arms around Minako's waist, pulling her towards him, molding her body to his. Finally, a need for oxygen overrode the passion of the kiss, and they parted, gasping for air. Minako rested her forehead against the side of Severus' neck.  
  
"I want you," she whispered.  
  
Chibi Chibi quietly closed the door, and turned towards Ginny; a large grin plastered on her face. The two girls walked down the corridor toward the Gryffindor common room.  
  
"So, how did you get him to drink the potion," Ginny asked. Chibi Chibi pulled a half empty potion bottle from her pocket, and kissed it.  
  
"I had breakfast with him this morning in his rooms to discuss my progress in his class. It was easy enough to slip some of the potion into his tea while I was preparing it. The fact that this is our first class of the day was just an added bonus." The two girls laughed joyously. Chibi Chibi slipped the potion back into the folds of her robes, patting it lovingly through the thick fabric. "Truth potions are fun."  
  
*  
  
A week later, the last class of the year ended. Students spilled out of their classrooms, running towards their dorms to finish that last bit of packing that they had put off before the train arrived the next morning. Chibi Chibi took it slightly slower. She had one more tutoring session with Draco before he left for the Christmas vacation. She waved good-bye to Ginny, and rounded a corner, heading toward the dungeons. Madam Pomfrey stopped her. "May I have a word with you, Chibi Chibi?"  
  
Chibi Chibi was about to politely tell the mediwizard that she had other things to do, but the concerned look on her face stopped her. She nodded, and Madam Pomfrey led her to the medical wing. She followed her into her office and sat, while Madam Pomfrey sifted through several folders in a filing cabinet. After a few moments she pulled one out, handed it to Chibi Chibi, and sat down behind her desk. "Do you know what that is?"  
  
"My medical records," she murmured as she glanced at a few of the pages.  
  
"Look at the end." She waited until Chibi Chibi flipped to the end of the thick folder before continuing. "I'm sorry, but there has been no change. Nothing that we have done, has had any affect." The redhead stared blankly at the paper in front of her.  
  
"How long?"  
  
"A year at the most. We will continue to try with the treatments, of course- "  
  
"Don't bother," Chibi Chibi cut the older witch off as she stood. "Its hopeless. I need to go think about this." Madam Pomfrey buried her face in her hands as the teenager rushed from the room.  
  
Chibi Chibi spent the next two hours wandering through the cheerful halls of Hogwarts. She walked as if in a trance. Greetings from fellow students fell on deaf ears. She brushed by happy groups with unseeing eyes. Finally, one voice penetrated her mind, bringing her out of her stupor. Chibi Chibi walked up to Draco, who was talking with Crabbe and Goyle, and tapped him on his shoulder. "Draco, I need to talk to you." Draco turned around, and glared at the petite girl.  
  
"If you wanted to talk to me, then you should have come to our study session. I waited for you for nearly an hour. I'm busy now." He started to turn back around, but she grabbed his arm and pulled on it.  
  
"It's important, Draco."  
  
"So is this." He ripped his arm out of her grasp and turned back to his two 'friends'. Chibi Chibi glared at his back for a moment. She lifted her hand, and her fingers curled around the necklace that Draco had given her. With a sudden burst of strength that came from her anger she tore the necklace from her neck, leaving a deep welt, and threw it at the back of his head.  
  
"Fine. Tell me when you start thinking that I'm important!" Draco whirled around when the hard metal connected with his scull. Chibi Chibi had begun to walk away when Draco reached out and grabbed her by her upper arm. He forcefully drug her into a deserted classroom.  
  
"What the bloody hell is wrong with you today?" He shoved the necklace back into her hand while he waited for an answer.  
  
"I'm sorry," she began sarcastically," I found out that I'm going to die. Excuse me for being in a bad mood." The scowl on Draco's face darkened.  
  
"Just for this once, could you please be serious about something?" SLAP! Draco's cold eyes widened in surprise as his brain registered that he had just been slapped.  
  
"I am being serious! Draco, I have leukemia and I'm not responding to the treatments. We've tried everything. Wizarding cures, muggle cures, everything! But, its not enough. Madam Pomfrey told me today after my last class, that was why I didn't show up. Save a miracle, I have a year, and then I will die."  
  
***  
  
Kristin: *stares at the end of the chapter with a blank look on her face, before turning and walking away*  
  
Special Thanks to:  
  
Sailor Bree  
  
Dingzhe no Megami   
  
Alexz  
  
Kalliza  
  
Lunarian Amethyst: Thanks for the multiple reviews.  
  
Lady Light  
  
The Future Queen: You will find out more about that later on.  
  
Kolinshar Jackie-chan Benito: All of the scouts will appear in my story at some point or another. I think that I will reveal where Haruka is in chapter fifteen. It was suppose to be a Harry/Hotaru romance, but since I decided that they wouldn't get together until after they left Hogwarts, I might just make that into another story.  
  
Solarmistress17  
  
Tenshi-chan  
  
Serenity Sapphire: Thank you for your concern. We really miss her.  
  
Ami: YAY! I have a new pet! Sirius will be showing up again in the next chapter. 


	14. Chapter Fourteen

That was Then, This is Now  
  
Disclaimer: Not mine. Nuff said.  
  
Kristin: This is a pretty weepy chapter. It is also going to be pretty short. It would be longer, but I wanted to get it out before Christmas, and I liked where I ended it. At this time, I am not saying whether I will kill off Chibi Chibi or not. All that I am saying, is that I already know what I am going to do about it, and nothing can change my mind. You may take that however you want to. ***  
  
Chapter Fourteen  
  
Usagi Black was a woman who had always been a pillar of strength. The mere mention of her name alone had made many death eaters tremble in fear. Great multitudes of people had believed her to be invincible, immortal, even without knowing about her past on the moon and her future as queen and Cosmos. She was unstoppable; able to do anything, except save the life of her daughter. Sirius, who had returned to Hogwarts to visit and had ended up agreeing to stay until Christmas, cradled the sobbing woman in his arms. Madam Pomfrey had recently come and gone, telling them the news and that Chibi Chibi already knew. "It's not fair, Sirius. I hate feeling helpless, but this one time when it matters the most, I can't do anything!"  
  
"Why? Why can't you just use the crystal to heal her," he asked pleadingly. Usagi shook her head sadly.  
  
"I can only heal diseases that the mortals have already discovered a cure for. If the cure for the disease isn't working on her, then using the crystal would be helpless." She valiantly tried to stop her tears, still shaking from the suppressed sobs.  
  
"Then, bring her back to life after she dies," he suggested, hope evident in his trembling voice. Again, Usagi shook her head.  
  
"She would still have the cancer when she was reborn. There is nothing that I can do." The two parents clung to each other as they cried; mourning their daughter's impending death.  
  
***  
  
Draco and Chibi Chibi stood in the empty classroom, staring. She stared at the floor, and he stared at her. Her face, neck, and hands, the only parts of her body that were uncovered, were devoid of any type of fat. The skin was pulled tightly over the bones. Her robes hung limply over her shriveled form, barely concealing the skeletal body. A small stream of blood trickled from her neck where she had retched off her necklace, bruises already forming around the wound. Dark bags were under her eyes, giving her a tired look. Her breathing was irregular, as if her confession had drained the last bit of strength from her.  
  
She stared at the floor, afraid of what she would see in Draco's eyes if she were to look up. A gentle hand gripped her chin and forced her to look up into his ice blue eyes. What she saw there surprised her. Pain, sympathy, and something else that she couldn't place her finger on. None were things often seen on the usually closed off boy's face. "I don't know what to say, except that I swear I will be by your side when things get rough."  
  
Chibi Chibi's eyes widened at his heartfelt oath. She pulled away from him, suddenly afraid of the intensity in those fathomless eyes. "Don't promise me that, Malfoy," she said, missing his wince when she reverted to calling him by his surname. "Don't promise me anything. Don't get any closer to me at all. I'm going to die, Malfoy, there seems to be no avoiding it. Why get attached to something when you already know that it is going to leave you. You'll just get hurt, and I care about you too much already to let that happen. Just stay away from me." She turned and began to walk toward the door. Draco reached out and grabbed her arm, taking special care to be gentle, but still firm enough to let her know that he wasn't about to let go.  
  
"Do you think I care about any of that," he whispered, causing Chibi Chibi to turn around in surprise. "Yes, I will lose you, and it will hurt; probably more than anything has ever hurt me before. But, I would rather get to know you now, and get hurt, than spend the rest of my life hating myself for not taking this opportunity while I still have it. I want to know you, truly know you. I want to be able to look at you and be able to tell what you are think, or feeling. I want to know about your childhood, and your dreams for your future if your miracle does happen and you live. That is what I care about right now. Not all of that other stuff, but you. I care about you, and I want to be there for you, if you'll just let me." Chibi Chibi's eyes filled with tears, and she managed a small smile.  
  
"Well then, meet me by the lake in about an hour. It looks like we have a lot to talk about."  
  
"Why an hour?" Chibi Chibi smiled again at Draco, this time a little wider.  
  
"You made me realize something, and I need to take care of something." She turned and walked to the door. When she reached it, she hesitated, and turned again to face Draco. She rushed forward, wrapped her arms around his neck, and pressed a kiss against his cheek. "Thank you, Draco," she whispered, and then she disappeared through the door. Draco slowly touched his hand to his cheek for a moment, before walking out of the room, a very uncharacteristic grin on his face.  
  
*  
  
Chibi Chibi murmured the password to her mother's rooms, and silently entered the living room. Her parents were both on the couch, holding each other and crying. Usagi rose when she saw her daughter, and stepped forward to embrace her. Sirius stood as well, but remained where he was, not wanting to interfere, but making no move to hide the tears on his cheeks either. Chibi Chibi clung to her mother for a moment, before pulling away, and walking over to her father, who stared down at her in disbelief. "Daddy?"  
  
Sirius' eyes nearly doubled in size, but he held out his arms to the small teenager, silently asking, hoping for her acceptance of his presence in her life, even though it was nearing its end. Seeing this, the last wall holding back Chibi Chibi's tears crumbled and she threw herself into his open arms. "Daddy, I need you," she whispered as her tears stained the front of his robe.  
  
***  
  
Kristin: Like I said, it wasn't very long, but I liked the ending of the chapter. Everybody wish me good luck. I'm singing a song all by myself tonight for my church's candlelight service.  
  
Special Thanks to:  
  
Solarmistress17  
  
Silver Moon Goddess  
  
Lady Light  
  
Alexz  
  
Tenshi-Chikyuu  
  
Dingzhe no Megami: I'm so sorry about your uncle. There are so many things that I would like to say to you, but none seem appropriate in your time of grief.  
  
Lunarian Amethyst: The first part was supposed to be funny. Glad that you liked it so much.  
  
Emmichan: I am not releasing that information yet. Sorry. 


	15. Chapter Fifteen

That was Then, This is Now  
  
Disclaimer: They do not belong to me, they have never belonged to me, and they never will belong to me.  
  
Kristin: I'M HAPPY! I was sick and my voice wasn't doing too great, but I managed to sing my song without screwing up. This is really good considering I did it without music and a small mistake would have been pretty noticeable. Yay for me!  
  
WARNING!!! This chapter has a bit of Lucius bashing, and a bit of child abuse, however, that part is kind of important if you are trying to figure some things out before I tell you.  
  
***  
  
Chapter Fifteen  
  
Chibi Chibi jogged across the frozen grounds of Hogwarts, her heavy winter robes slapping against her legs. She had stayed with her father, talking, for nearly forty-five minutes, before leaving to go see Draco. She paused for a moment to catch her breath when he came into view. Now able to breathe easier, she bent down and gathered a handful of snow. She then crept up behind the off-guard young man, and dumped the snow down the back of his robe. He visibly jumped and screeched, sounding much like a wounded cat, while he vainly tried to fish the snow out of his robe. Chibi Chibi fell down to the ground, shaking with laughter. Draco glared pitifully at her for a moment before joining her in her laughter.  
  
*  
  
From one of the windows in Usagi's rooms, Sirius stood, gaping at the scene that had just unfolded in front of him. "My daughter, and a Malfoy?" Usagi smiled ruefully at his indignant tone of voice and walked up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head against his back.  
  
"I said the same thing when I first figured it out, but he's not just a Malfoy. His mother..." she trailed off. Sirius nodded in agreement.  
  
"Yes, his mother has to be taken into consideration, of course. But still, a Malfoy!" Usagi shook her head against Sirius' back, smiling sadly. She circled around her husband so that she could look up at his face.  
  
"Yes, a Malfoy. She'll be good for him, Sirius. The poor boy needs to have a little bit of laughter in his life, and she will bring that to him. Just give him a chance." Sirius raised an eyebrow at his wife.  
  
"If you've forgiven him for what he did to you," he paused as she nodded, "Then, I suppose that I can give him a chance."  
  
*  
  
Draco and Chibi Chibi sat on top of a boulder by the lake, huddled together for warmth. They had been sitting in absolute quiet for nearly twenty minutes, neither wanting to break the comfortable silence. Finally, Draco spoke up. "So, do you know how..." She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and nodded.  
  
"A while ago, I was visiting one of my mum's witch friends in Germany who lives as a muggle. There are certain roads in Germany that have no speed limits, and people can be a little inane at times. We were in a bad car wreck, and were rushed to a muggle hospital. I needed blood, or I would have died then. There was something...not right about the blood transfusion that they injected me with. It gave me HTLV-1. That progressed into leukemia, and here I am. Or, at least, that's about as much as I understand about it. I'm probably off on a few things, but you get the general idea." They lapsed back into a comfortable silence. Chibi Chibi yawned and laid her head on Draco's shoulder, ignoring the way that he tensed for a moment. He glanced down at her and an eyebrow shot up.  
  
"Your neck is better," he murmured, and reached out a finger to stoke the previously gashed skin, inwardly smirking when she shivered. She glanced up at him through her eyelashes.  
  
"Yeah, my mum healed it." He nodded, more as an acknowledgment than anything else, then resumed staring out over the lake. He glanced down when he felt a package being shoved into his hand. "Happy Christmas."  
  
"What's this?" Chibi Chibi giggled.  
  
"Why don't you open it and find out?" He pulled the wrapping off of the present to reveal a leather bond book, with a small, circular indention plated with silver on the cover. He flipped the book open and fingered the blank, creamy pages.  
  
"A journal?"  
  
"Close, but not quite." She pulled an identical book from her pocket along with a self-filling quill. "You see," she began as she scribbled on the first page of her book, "It is half of a pair. The books are magically linked. You write on a page of one of the books, and then when you tap it once with your wand, it instantly disappears from that book, and is sent to the other one," here she produced her wand and tapped the page that she had written on once. "Now, open your book to the first page and tap twice." Draco did as he was told, and saw Chibi Chibi's familiar handwriting appear.  
  
"This is amazing. Where did you get these?"  
  
"My mum helped me enchant them. Tap once to send, tap twice to make the writing appear, and tap three times to delete the message. Do you like it?" Draco looked at her hopeful face and could almost feel his heart breaking.  
  
"I love it, but I can't use it." He winced as her face fell.  
  
"Why not," she asked.  
  
"If my father were to find out...well I don't think that he would approve." Chibi Chibi suddenly grinned.  
  
"Is that all? Well, you don't need to worry about that." Without warning, she grabbed his hand, produced a knife from her pocket, and slashed the tip of his index finger. Draco watched in horrified fascination as she let his blood drip into the indention on the cover of the journal. After a few moments, she pulled a handkerchief from her pocket, and wrapped it around his finger. She then waved her wand over the book, and murmured a spell in a language that sounded like nothing he had ever heard before. As she spoke, the blood was absorbed into the leather of the book, and glowed a dark red for a moment. When the glow subsided, she handed the book back to him. "Now, only you will be able to see what is truly written on the pages. To everyone else, it will appear to be filled with teenage trivialities." She laughed at the disbelieving look on his face. "My mum thinks that the summer is nothing more than extra time to study things that aren't taught in school."  
  
"Ah, well, I got you something too, but I sent it away to have something done to it, and it hasn't returned yet. I can owl it to you before Christmas, though. Are you staying here for all of the vacation?"  
  
"No. We'll stay for about three more days, and then we're going to portkey back home. I'll get you the address later."  
  
*  
  
Draco stood in his father's office in Malfoy Manor, suddenly wishing to be anywhere but there. He had been standing there for about ten minutes, and his father had yet to look up from the papers that he was studying on his desk. Finally, he looked up, and favored his only child with a chilling glare. "Do you know why I felt the need to speak with you?" He arched an eyebrow at his son's silence. "You are a disgrace to this family, Draco. You are friends with the daughter of an auror," he spat the words as if they left a bad taste in his mouth. "There is no excuse for that, you insolent child. You should be punished for consorting with the enemy."  
  
Draco remained silent as he watched his father lift his wand from his desk, and point it at him. He was strangely calm, almost detached, as if he was simply witnessing this happening to somebody else, not himself. He found it unusual that he was suddenly noticing things that would usually escape him, such as the fly that was buzzing near the open window, and the house elf that had led him to this room, slipping silently through the door. "Crucio," his father snarled.  
  
Draco stood there for a moment, feeling nothing but a small ball of annoyance gathering in the pit of his stomach. Then, it happened. The pain was unbearable, as though someone was raking their nails on his brain. The coppery taste of blood overwhelmed his taste buds from where he had bit his tongue, trying to not scream; trying to not give his father the perverse pleasure of hearing him scream. He legs gave out beneath him, sending him sprawling to the ground. A fire from deep inside of him seemed to be trying to fight the curse, obstructing his sight with visions of a woman, no an angel, dressed in pure white, reaching out to him, his mother and several other women behind her. Above it all, he could hear laughter; the cruel laughter of a psychotic man who has recently given up on all hope. It took his poor, pain-filled brain several minutes to realize that the laughter was coming from him. No, his father would not hear him scream, but he would see him loosing his sanity.  
  
This was the scene that Narcissa Malfoy was led to, by the same house elf that had informed Draco of his father's wish to 'talk'. Her son lay on the ground, his body convulsing with pain, his eyes rolled back in his head, and insane laughter pouring from his lips. Her husband stood, his wand in hand, a mixed look of horror and determination set upon his face. Narcissa was a strong woman in her own rights, taught from an early childhood in not only magical, but physical defense. She was as deadly without a wand, as she was with one, and had no problem with violence. Her hair, which had been arranged in curls on top of her head, had mostly fallen from its style during her hurried run towards the office. It framed her angry blue eyes giving her a wild look. Fury took control of her mind and her actions; within seconds, she had crossed the room, grabbed the wand from Lucius' hand, and planted her fist in his stomach. They stayed that way for several seconds; Lucius doubled over in pain, Narcissa's fist still firmly imbedded in his gut, and Draco still laughing as though his brain had not yet come to comprehend that the curse had ended. She finally pulled her arm back, repositioning at his neck, where she grabbed a handful of his robe.  
  
"If you so much as point that wand in my son's general direction again, I swear that I will rip off your personal wand," she ground out, her gaze flickering down to the lower regions of his body for a moment, before returning to his eyes. "Do you understand me, you pathetic sniveling little worm?" He nodded weakly. "Then get out," she growled, shoving him away from her and towards the door. He stumbled out the door, making a hasty retreat to the other end of the manor, or at least as far away from his wife as he could manage for the moment.  
  
Narcissa now turned towards her son. She loved her son at least as much as she hated her husband, if not more. He had stopped twitching, and his laughter had died down to an inane muttering. She knelt beside the boy and gathered him into her arms, stroking his hair and whispering words of comfort. Dark droplets of crimson blood formed on his lips, and dripped to the floor. Seeing this, Narcissa wiped the blood away, and cast a simple spell to heal his tongue. She whimpered as she rocked him back and forth in her arms, her tears falling, and mingling with his blood on the polished wooden floors. "It shouldn't be this way, dear heart. It won't be this way for much longer. She will save us. She gave us her word, and her word has always been good. Soon, you will be free from this hateful life. Soon, we will both be free. I promise you that."  
  
***  
  
Kristin: I was going to put in Christmas, but I liked it where I ended it. Christmas will be the next chapter.  
  
Special Thanks to:  
  
Silver Moon Goddess  
  
Falconess  
  
Solarmistress17  
  
Firefly#1: Thank you. I did fairly well.  
  
Final-Fan: This chapter should have answered your question. Don't worry you weren't a downer. Radiation is only one of the ways to get leukemia. I simply chose to have her get it another way.  
  
Lunarian Amethyst: I'm flattered.  
  
Dingzhe no Megami  
  
'Sir/Lady Lupin' aka 'Heiress of Slitherin'   
  
alexz 


	16. Chapter Sixteen

That was Then, This is Now  
  
Disclaimer: Ditto from the previous chapter.  
  
Kristin: I HAVE OVER TWO HUNDRED REVIEWS!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so happy! Thank you my lovely reviewers! I love you all! When I started this fic, I didn't think that I would even get to one. You guys really have no idea how much this means to me. I know that this is incredibly short for how long it has been since I last updated, but I have a terrible case of writer's block on this story and am lucky to be able to get out this much.  
  
***  
  
The sound of Harry's footsteps echoed hollowly in the empty hallways of Hogwarts. Hundreds of students had left earlier that morning for their homes, Hermione and Ron among them. Harry had been invited to spend the holidays with Ron's family, but he had declined. The Weasly's had always tried to make him feel like one of the family, but the more time he spent with them, the more he realized that he never would fit in. He had always been treated as a guest. It was impossible not to notice the way that Mr. and Mrs. Weasly were always on their best manners around him; and the way that he never got in trouble for anything, even if they would have practically killed one of their own children for doing the same thing. He wanted people he could be completely himself around and vise versa. He wanted a family. "Mr. Potter! Wait up for a moment," a pleasant voice called from behind him. Harry turned around and saw Professor Black walking briskly toward him. He blinked. She was smiling. She never smiled, ever.  
  
"Yes, Professor," he asked, trying to keep the curiosity from his face. She merely smiled wider.  
  
"I would like to talk to you, Mr. Potter. I have a sort of a proposition that I would like to run by you. If you would join me in my office for a few moments, please," she said, more of a statement than a request. Harry glared at the petite professor's back as he followed her, feeling slightly annoyed at being told to do things over his vacation.  
  
"Don't glare at me, Mr. Potter," she began, never turning around, as if she was reading his thoughts. Harry blinked again. "Please understand that because of what I did and who I was for the largest portion of my life, I have grown more accustom to giving orders, than asking people politely to do things." She turned and smiled kindly at him, opening the door to her office and motioning for him to enter. He walked through the door and sat down on an old, worn armchair. Instead of sitting down behind her desk as Harry had expected her to do, Professor Black took the seat beside him, turning it so that she was facing him.  
  
"What was it that you wanted, Professor?" He studied her carefully. If it had been anyone but Professor Black, he would have said that she was nervous.  
  
"Harry, may I call you Harry," she asked, looking a bit uncertain. He nodded and she continued. "I never really thanked you. If it hadn't been for you, I have no idea when I would have seen Sirius again. So, thank you, you really have no idea how much what you did means to me." Harry nodded and began to rise from his seat.  
  
"What else could I have done, Professor? If that was all you wanted to see me for, then I should get going." Professor Black held up a hand as a signal for him to wait.  
  
"Actually, Harry, there was something else as well." He settled back down in his chair, waiting for her to continue. "Sirius and I have been talking, and he brought up a rather good point, which I agreed with. As you will probably figure out, if you haven't already, I don't enjoy it when things happen that I have no control over." Harry blinked, again. He was feeling rather confused. Not only was Professor Black not making any sense, but also tears were gathering in her eyes. "Harry, when your parents died, I felt a tiny bit better knowing that I was going to get to raise you. I actually got through the first few hours of shock only because I spent them planning the things that you and I would do together. I must have spent the better part of the day writing down stories about Lily and James that I wanted to tell you. I still have the book that I wrote it all down in if you want it," she wiped away the tears that were falling freely down her face while Harry nodded. "I was so furious with Dumbledore and the Ministry when they told me that you would be going to those muggle relatives of yours. Unlike Dumbledore, I had actually met them. They have to be the rudest, most self-centered, self-righteous people I have ever met, muggle or wizard.  
  
"I'm getting off track, and I apologize for that. The fact of the matter is, we would have raised you as a member of our family; and while we are entering your life much later than we would have liked, Sirius and I would still like it if you would contemplate considering us as your family. In addition to this, we would also be honored if you would spend Christmas with us this year at our home." Harry sat quietly for a few moments.  
  
"May I think about this, Professor?"  
  
"Of course, you can." Harry and Professor Black both rose from their chairs and walked to the door. She opened the door for him and he stepped out of the office. "You have two days, then we will be leaving." He nodded. "Harry? If you don't want to, you don't have to worry about offending us." She smiled soothingly, although the saddened look in her eyes suggested that she wasn't telling the truth. Despite his initial misgivings about accepting her offer; Harry found himself wanting to go with her and his godfather.  
  
"Actually, Professor, I don't need to think about it. I think that I would love to take you up on your offer." She smiled again, and it struck Harry as odd, how different she seemed out of the classroom. Her overall countenance was warmer, almost maternal.  
  
"Well, then be ready in two days. Hotaru will show you where to go."  
  
*  
  
Cornelius Fudge stood in the front entryway of Malfoy Manor subconsciously straightening his suit. After several long minutes, a house elf scurried up to him, and motioned for him to follow her. He was left in front of a thick oak door, which swung open at his touch. The first thing that he noticed upon entering the room was Narcissa Malfoy. The blonde was reclining on a sofa, her lithe body draped with navy blue robes and her hair pulled back from her bored face. In one hand she held a book and in the other was a goblet of blood red wine. Fudge cleared his throat, causing the goddess- like woman to look up. A slow, manipulative grin spread across her face. She set her glass and book on a low marble table.  
  
"Hello, Minister. Won't you have a seat? And perhaps a cup of tea?" Fudge nodded and sat rigidly on a stiff armchair. A teacup appeared in front of him, which he took.  
  
"Your owl said that you wanted to speak with me about something important, Mrs. Malfoy," he said, raising the teacup up to his lips.  
  
"Yes, and I do. I would like for you to arrest my husband." Fudge spit out the tea that had been in his mouth. The corners of Narcissa's mouth twitched.  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"You heard me, Minister. I would like for you to arrest my husband. Is that really so hard to understand?" He drew in a shuddering breath and placed his teacup on a table beside him, succeeding in spilling most of it before it reached its destination.  
  
"Do you have any reason for my arresting him?" At his question, Narcissa's facial expression darkened.  
  
"I refuse to put my son in any more danger. Lucius has a nasty habit of loosing his temper and acting irrationally. This morning when my son returned home, Lucius used an Unforgivable him. Draco is in his room, resting. The doctor said that we should know by tomorrow if he will be all right or not. If that isn't enough to lock him away for life, then the fact that he is a Death Eater should." Fudge struggled to control his breathing and failed miserably. He tried to come up with a response but completely drew a blank. Finally, he said the only thing that he could think of.  
  
"Merlin's beard, I need a drink." Narcissa smiled again, and handed him a bottle of wine.  
  
***  
  
Kristin: I will try very hard to get the next chapter out, but it's been hard to find time to write, and then when I have time, I can't get anything to come out right. I'm going to work on my other HP/SM fic for a while to see if that will help at all. Perhaps it will open up my creative juices for this fic.  
  
Special thanks to:  
  
Kiwi  
  
Silver Moon Goddess  
  
Alexz  
  
CloverWeave  
  
Firelightz: I'm not sure if I want Harry and Hotaru to fall in love now, or if I'm going to do that in a sequel type thingy. Either way, they are going to end up together.  
  
Tenshi-Chikyuu  
  
Solarmisstress17: That information is confidential. You will just have to wait and see. *smiles evilly* I love it when I get to say that to people.  
  
Ice-Goddess: Again, that information in confidential. You might be right, but you might not be. I'm not telling. Thanks for putting me on your favorites list. I feel so loved.  
  
La Katsup: I'm still waiting for you to respond to my email.  
  
GLow  
  
Lunarian Amethyst: Yes, I do believe in life in other solar systems. I believe that if God could create all of us, then he could very easily have created other intelligent beings. I also think that the reason he didn't tell us about them is so that we wouldn't try to find them, which would probably ended up destroying our race.  
  
Final-Fan: What's this? A review from you without any constructive criticism? A review without any nit picking? I'm shocked! I always look forward to your scarce reviews because they make me think about how I can become a better writer. Actually, I love that phrase. 


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